Everything to lose
by alias of a girl
Summary: 4 worlds, 10 hearts, 1 fate...FFX2KH crossover...usual pairings [COMPLETE] [sequel: Pandora's Secret]
1. Fayth x DISCLAIMER x

**My Big Fat Disclaimer: I don't own anything (but the storyline). No characters, no songs, no worlds, no nothing! These things are owned by Square-Enix, Michelle Branch, Evanescence and possibly any other bands whose songs I may mention.**

Takes place after the end of FFX-2 (but before Yuna finds Tidus) and after the end of KH as well

Yuna was sitting on the deck of the Celcius, feeling truly free for once. From the time she was born, she was constrained by the teachings of Yevon, until the final defeat of Sin. After that, she was caught in politics for two years until Rikku found _the _sphere, and then she'd found herself trapped chasing an empty hope and freeing a fearful soul. Now, after she'd beaten the Vegnagun, she had her freedom. For a little while, anyways. It had been barely a week, and though she wouldn't admit it, she was itching to go on another adventure. _I guess some people never change. _Said the a voice in her mind. It was the voice of a young boy. Yuna could feel his presence behind her. It was the Fayth.

"Good afternoon, Lady Summoner." he said, this time out loud. Once Yuna recovered from her slight surprise, she smiled at him.

"Good afternoon." She was quiet for a moment, then asked the question that had been overwhelming her mind since he arrived. "May I ask how you…?" She didn't finish the question, unable to find the right words.

"I know. You freed us, the aeons and I. But I chose to stay in Spira for a little while longer, to find a way to repay you for all you've done. Do you still wish to find him?"

"Him?" Yuna squeaked. She knew who the Fayth was talking about, but she didn't want to get her hopes up. She been fighting with herself over him from the time she met him.

"Yes, Yuna. Tidus." The Fayth said quietly. Yuna scrambled to her feet.

"Yes! Oh, I would do anything…"

"I know you would, but I feel that I must warn you. It will be very dangerous."

"Then there's no way she's going alone." Paine said, walking up to them. Rikku ran over a moment later.

"Ooooo! Ooooo! I wanna go too! …Wait, where are we going?"

"I'm going to Zanarkand." Yuna stated. She had hard time finishing, her emotions nearly getting the best of her. She cleared her throat and continued, "I going…to get Tidus."

"Oh! Oh! I wanna come!" Rikku announced excitedly.

"I'm sorry." The Fayth cut in, "but Yuna has to be the one to go because Yuna alone can bring him back."

"A summoner alone could defeat Sin, but every summoner always had guardians to help them through the pilgrimage." Yuna argued. The Fayth paused, then sighed.

"Alright, Rikku and Paine may join you."

"Alright!" The girls cried in unison, excited beyond belief. The Fayth waited patiently for them to calm down. Once they did, he spoke again.

"Tidus' Zanarkand is a dream so tonight, when you fall asleep, you will enter a dream state and you will find yourselves in Zanarkand. Find him as soon as you can, and I will find you once I can do so to bring you back to Spira."

"Why can't you come find us right away?" Paine asked.

"Because I can only enter Zanarkand during a crisis." The Fayth explained. The girls' eyes widened. Yuna gulped, afraid to ask her next question.

"So, how are you going to come get us then?"

"I'm going to create a crisis."

"WHAT!"

"You were warned that it would be dangerous." The Fayth reasoned.

"But—." Rikku began, but the spirit biy interrupted her.

"See you this night, Gullwings." With that, he disappeared. Paine blinked.

"What that for real?"

"Yup." Rikku answered, still in awe. After a moment, Yuna grinned. Rikku leapt into the air, whooping in delight and went racing toward the elevator. Yuna followed, imitating Rikku though unsuccessfully so due to her laughter. Paine ran in behind them, smiling.

The dock hadn't changed. The beach hadn't changed. The boats hadn't changed. The house hadn't changed. Not even the trees had seemed to changed. Everything seemed to be exactly the same, even though it had been a full two years. There was a girl lying on the dock, staring up at the sky. She seemed to be the only thing that had changed. Her hair was longer than it used to be, layered from her ears to the middle of her back. She'd grown a bit taller. She'd matured a lot in the past two years, both in mind and body. She was wearing a dark blue tank top that accented her eyes, as well as her curves. She was wearing a short jean skirt that showed off her long legs and the tattoo that wrapped around her right ankle. It was a knot of roses and leaves, a perfectly respectable tattoo (if you'd consider tattoos respectable). However, if you looked close enough, you could see things hidden in the image: words, insignias, names. The name Kairi was intertwined with the name Sora, the word 'Destiny' was hidden on the outside of her ankle, and perhaps the most challenging to find was the heartless sign in the inside of her angle. She sighed. Life on the islands was so simple, so peaceful, so…bland. The 16 year old girl on the dock was bored. She had been for a long time. She craved the life she knew Sora was leading; exciting and spontaneous, and especially dangerous. She'd amused herself these year by learning to fight, vowing to never again be the helpless maiden she'd been the night the Heartless attacked. In fact, there was a claw sitting beside her on the wood of the dock, which she now picked up and slipped onto her hand. She rarely went anywhere without it. She sat up and, leaving her sandals behind, walked over to the bushes that hid the Secret Place and slipped inside. The air in the tunnel was cool and dry, refreshing compared to the muggy heat of the beach. She was still just short enough that she didn't have to stoop to walk through. The air became gradually warmer as she walked toward the cavern. Once inside, the sunlight from the 'skylight' was blinding to her for a moment. Her eyes quickly adjusted. She came here often; it was her only memory of her two best friends. _Well, my one best friend. _She thought, chuckling sadly to herself. _Sora's not what I would call a friend anymore. _She sighed, dropping to her knees next to the drawing on the stone of her and Sora sharing a papou fruit. Her mind wandered, and she was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't realize that she'd gotten up and was pacing the room. When she finally snapped back to reality, she found herself standing in front of the wooden door that lead to other worlds, and she was running her fingers across the smooth wood. It was hard for her to take in the enormity of this single door. She tried to grasp it, though unsuccessfully. Once again, she was wandering in a world of her own thoughts. She jumped when her fingers touched something cold and hard and smooth. She found herself holding a door handle. She stared. _Was that always there?_ She wasn't sure, but the temptation to turn the knob was irresistible. Unable to stop herself (not that she wanted to) she opened the door slowly. She couldn't see anything on the other side. There was only darkness and shadow. It was terrifying, it was harsh, it was cold, but it was intriguing. It was dangerous. With determination, she stepped through the door. With a quiet swoosh, it swung shut behind her. There'd be no going back.

The vacuum of space was deep and very empty. One, surprisingly colourful object zoomed forward in almost silence. It was a gummiship, and it was rather impressive. Inside, three unlikely companions were yelling at each other. Or, two of them were yelling. The third, a humorous looking dog dressed in a knight's armour, was shaking his head.

"We are NOT lost!" yelled the duck, whom was dressed as a magician.

"You got us lost Donald!" yelled the amber-haired teen accusingly. Donald looked indignant.

"I know exactly where we are!" he retorted angrily.

"Fine! Then where!" The teen asked disbelievingly.

"We're right here!" Donald replied. The amber-haired 16 year old groaned in frustration and turned away from his duck companion.

"You don't have a clue." he muttered, swinging his Keyblade absently. Donald didn't reply. Instead, he turned to the dog/knight.

"Have we gotten any messages Goofy?" he asked, loudly enough to have the Keybearer hear.

"Nope." There was silence for a moment. It was Donald who spoke first.

"Sora?" There was obviously shock in the duck's voice, otherwise, Sora wouldn't have bothered turning around. Once he caught sight of what was ahead of them, his jaw dropped. It was a planet, bigger than any world he'd ever seen before.

"What…is that?" Sora asked, shocked.

"I dunno…" Donald answered, in total awe. Sora smirked.

"I knew it. You really did get us lost."

"Sora!"

So? What do you think so far? You will find a lot of similarities to my old one, but believe you me, you'll see a lot of differences. Exciting! R+R!


	2. Dreaming, blocks and a big surprise

The day dragged on, incessantly long, and the Gullwing girls couldn't wait for night to arrive. None of them had bothered to tell anyone else what they were up to. It was dusk. The three of them were on the bridge with Brother, Buddy and Shinra. Rikku was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor, looking bored. Yuna was pacing back and forth so quickly that she was going to wear a hole in the floor. Paine was leaning against the wall, watching and waiting as the sun went down. As the last rays disappeared beneath the horizon, Yuna smiled.

"Soon, girls."

"What's soon?" Shinra asked, jumping at the chance to find out why the girls were all so strangely quiet. Rikku just shook her head in response. Paine didn't bother to answer; Shinra hadn't been expecting much of an answer from her. Yuna didn't even seem to hear him. Shinra sighed and went back to his work. Rikku was pouting. Yuna yawned and smiled, getting all the more excited and all the more tired very suddenly. Paine looked like she had to work to keep her eyes open. Yuna yawned again as Rikku stretched out on the floor and mumbled something about a nap. Paine smiled, walking over to Yuna and whispering.

"Looks like we're on our way to Zanarkand already." However, Yuna had fallen asleep standing up and was collapsing to the floor. Paine followed moments later. It was Buddy who heard the faint thumps. He saw the three of them lying on the floor, fast asleep.

"Hey Brother, Shinra. What happened to the girls?"

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Kairi was in complete darkness. Everything was black. However, there had to be some sort of light source, because when she looked down, she could see her clothes, her tattoo, and her bare feet. She frowned. _I need shoes_. she decided, taking a few steps forward. She had to go forward. There was no going back.

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Yuna opened her eyes and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw the scene around her. She was in Zanarkand, she knew. She recognized it instantly from all the times she'd been there over the last few years. Only, it was so much different. The buildings were in top condition, not in ruins. There were lights everywhere, so many that they blocked out even the stars. The noise was immense and there were people _everywhere_. Rikku and Paine were standing beside her, just as surprised. The three of them were in the middle of a crowd standing outside the stadium. Yuna's heart leapt into her throat. She knew very well that Tidus played for the Zanarkand Abes.

"Maybe he's playing!" she said excitedly. Apparently the same thought had occurred to Rikku, who was nodding vigorously as she spoke. Paine seemed to be slightly confused, but did well in hiding it. The barrier that kept the people outside the stadium disappeared, and the crowd flooded into the huge marble coliseum. The three girls wandered the halls, pretending they knew where they were going. Yuna bit her lip, looking around.

"So, where do we go?" she asked as they came to another dead end. Paine glanced around.

"There." she decided, picking out a random door. Rikku and Yuna shrugged, not having any better ideas, and followed the warrior to the doorway. As they opened the door, the sounds of deafening cheering burst through. Yuna giggled in sheer excitement, and pushed through the door. Paine raised her eyebrows at the usually passive Yuna and followed.

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Tidus smiled, ready for the game to begin. It was one of the biggest of the season; the two best teams in the league, competing for the top position. He was sitting in darkness, blitzball at his side, waiting. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he was reminded greatly of the day he dreamt of the destruction of Zanarkand, he'd dreamt fighting along side Rikku, he'd dreamt finding Besaid, he'd dreamt of Yuna. Two years ago, after his 'death' in Spira, he'd woken up in a hospital room. He had found out later that he'd hit his head during the blitzball game and went unconscious. He'd been out for almost two days. He'd dreamt up the entire pilgrimage in two days. When he first woke up, the doctors had thought him delirious, going on about Sin, Yuna and Spira. He'd found it hard to believe that something so vivid as Spira, as Sin, as Wakka, Lulu, Rikku, Kimhari and especially Yuna could have been a dream. He didn't know how he could have let himself fall in love with a dream. Even worse, he had never gotten over her. He still thought about her all the time. He was pulled back to reality as the lights flashed back on. Standing, he signaled to his teammates and they stepped into the light.

"And the game begins..." he muttered, entering the spherepool. Almost instantly the buzzer went and the game began. It went well. The Abes were winning by far. _Was there ever any doubt?_ Tidus thought, knocking an opposing player clear out of the spherepool. And yet… it was all so familiar. For a moment he could have sworn he saw a certain mismatch eyed girl in the crowd looking up at him. He shook his head. _Stop thinking about her!!_ He ordered himself. The ball came flying toward him, just above his head. He launched himself upward, knocking the blitzball out of the pool. He kicked himself up after it, flying out of the water. As he kicked it, the buzzer signaling a goal sounded and relief flooded through him. He had almost been expected to see the city burning and Sin rising out of the water again. As he landed gracefully back in the water, he sighed, mentally kicking himself. _Stop being so stupidly paranoid! It was just a dream and I have to deal with it! It was all just a dream! Get over it!_ He told himself, swimming viciously toward the net.

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The game finished, and the Gullwing girls were searching high and low for a way into the locker rooms to find Tidus. At last, they found it, but there were two men standing guard at the door. A few people were loitering around, hoping to slip past the men when they weren't looking. The gilrs tried a much more direct approach. Yuna walked forward and headed straight for the door, ignoring the men completely. One of them stepped infront of her, looking as aggressive as possible.

"Hey, no one's allowed in there without a pass." He said gruffly. Yuna blinked at him.

"I had my pass a moment ago, I don't know where it went!" She cried, emphatically searching her pockets and trying to look as much like a damsel in distress as possible (though such proved to be hard as a woman who saved the world twice is anything but a damsel in distress). The man rolled his eyes.

"Nice try; that's not the first time I've heard that lie before." He said, grabbing Yuna's arm roughly and shoving her away.

"This is my pass." Paine said angrily, pointing her sword at him. Rikku looked alarmed, not sure as to whether she should follow Paine's lead or not. The man had his gun out now, pointing it directly at Paine. Yuna grabbed Paine's shoulder.

"Don't." she said resignedly.

"What about Tidus?" Paine and Rikku asked at the same time.

"We'll figure something out." Yuna replied vaguely.

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Kairi stumbled through the darkness, wondering where she was, and trying not to wonder whether she ever get out again. It seemed as if she'd be wondering aimlessly forever. Then, she started to see something strange hidden in the shadows. From where she was, it looked like a long, glowing string laid pin straight along the ground. She approached it curiously, but cautiously. As she got closer, she came to realize that it wasn't a solid line, it was a number of glowing blocks, one after the other, seeming to go on forever in both directions. She finally came up beside it, and realized that it wasn't a single block above and below a single block, but there were sometimes a few blocks side by side. She could also see that each block was a different colour. She knelt down and took a closer look at one of the blocks. Apprehensively, she reached out to pick one yellow one up. She touched it quickly and drew her hand away, half expecting it to burn her. When it didn't, she picked it up carefully, as if she was afraid she would break it. The glowing began to fade, and she saw a name she didn't recognize inscribed into the top of it: Bellerophon. She placed it back down, and it began to glow again. As she looked down the endless line of named blocks, she began to wonder what these names were for. Not far off, one set of blocks caught her eye. Most sets of blocks consisted of one, two or three blocks, occasionally even five or six. One set caught her eye though, because it had a much greater number of blocks than any of the others she could see. As she wandered toward it, She was just able to read some of the other names on the blocks: Zaon, Peppita, Caim, Furiae, Inuart. When she reached the largest group of blocks, she studied each of them, without picking any of them up.

"Gippal…Baralai…Paine…LeBlanc…" she read out loud, slowly. Her voice caught in her throat as she snatched one of them into her hands, looking closely at it. She traced the engraved letters with her fingertips, her heart beating out of her chest. "Kairi. That's me…" she murmured, placing the block back down with trembling hands. She stared at it a moment longer, before forcing herself to look to the next block. She could feel a presence next to her, but she was in such shock that her mind didn't register it. Her hands were still trembling furiously as she picked up the next block, knowing another distant name might help bring her back to normality. What she got was exactly the opposite. "Sora! It says Sora!" she cried, frustrated at her own misunderstanding. She turned to the shadowy figure standing next to her and held the block out to it. "What does this mean?!" she asked, standing up. As she did so, she was able to see the face of the person. Stumbling backwards, she couldn't stop herself from screaming as the shock raced through her and her heart nearly shattered. This was too much.

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w00t! It's a cliffy! Dontcha all love me? Anyways, in case you didn't realize, Bellerophon is the man who rode Pegasus in Greek mythology, Zaon was Yunalesca's guardian, Peppita is a character from Star Ocean and the others are all from Drakengard. Tell me what you think so far! Review please please please please!


	3. Two slight problems

Ahahahaha I'm so cruel. I'm going to make you wait to find out what scared poor Kairi out of her wits. BWAHAHAHAH!

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The three Gullwing girls were sitting on a bench not far from the stadium, silent. Rikku was pouting, Yuna had her eyes closed and Paine looked on edge. All three of them were desperately trying to figure out a way to get to Tidus. Finally Yuna sighed.

"This is going to take a lot longer than we'd first thought." she decided.

"We need something that will draw a lot of attention." Paine said absently.

"Something big." Rikku agreed.

"Something big…" Yuna repeated, her eyes lighting up. "That's it!" she shouted, jumping up. Rikku jumped in surprise and Paine stared up at her, her expression one of blank misunderstanding.

"What's it?" Paine asked, standing up.

"The Thunder planes! Big! Lenne or me or…and Shuyin on the screen! For Lenne and Shuyin!" Yuna babbled, so excited that she couldn't get the words out. Rikku and Paine satred at her, eyes wide. They'd never seen her act like this before. Suddenly, Rikku tackled Yuna in an enormous hug.

"That's an awesome idea, Yunie!" she said, laughing. Paine's expression was still blank. It was clear that poor Paine still didn't understand. Rikku waved her hands. "Yunie wants to do a concert, like the one in the Thunderplains that day!" she explained, exasperated. Paine nodded.

"That would definitely draw a lot of attention…"

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Tidus was wandering towards the stadium. This was the day that The Abes were being officially awarded the title of Best Team. There were tens of thousands of people streaming towards the stadium for the presentation. Tidus grinned. He's only done this once before, and it was always an amazing time. There were the presentations first, and then there were always festivities afterwards, parties that lasted well into the next morning. He and his team would be the honoured guests at everything. He stepped into the stadium, and a man pulled him aside.

"This way, the team is gathering through those doors there." he said, pointing.

"Thanks." Tidus replied quickly, heading casually toward the doors. He slipped into a sparsely but comfortably furnished room, where the members of the top three teams were awaiting the beginning of the presentations. He wandered over to his team, his mind elsewhere. A young woman dressed in staff uniform came to get them soon enough. She lead them out onto a platform set up in the center of the stadium, and an older man, chairman of the blitzball league, began to speak. It was something of a boring speech. Tidus' eyes wandered, and he wondered when the real entertainment would begin. The crowd erupted into cheers: the man was obviously finished speaking. That was his queue to step up onto the first place spot on the podium with his co-captain to accept the award.

"Thank you, this is a great honour, and we're glad to be considered the best team in the league…" He said graciously. _Yada yada yada…thank you, I'm honoured, and I'm bored…_ Despite his outer appearance, he found having to deliver the classic acceptance speech to be really quite dull. The crowd erupted into cheers again, and Tidus waited for the other team captains to speak. Finally, the chairman stood up to speak again.

"And now, what you're all really here for… Tonight we have a special opening to the festival for you…" As he spoke, an older man led the teams off to the side, so they could enjoy the show without getting in the way. Tidus heard the crowd's cheers again, and the lights flickered off. The show was just beginning.

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Yuna, Rikku and Paine walked carefully through the halls of the stadium, trying to decide how they were going to crash the show.

"I say we just wait for the right time, walk up on stage and steal the show." Paine suggested.

"Oh, come on Paine, we have to have more style than that." Yuna replied, grinning.

"Then what do you propose?" Paine asked, curious. Yuan blushed.

"I haven't quite worked out the plan yet…" she answered quietly. Paine rolled her eyes. They were walking single file along the wall, trying to avoid the river of people. Rikku was first, then Yuna, then Paine. The girls were silent for a little while, each off in their own minds, formulating a plan, when Rikku squeaked. Yuna and Paine looked up on time to see Rikku being grabbed by a pair of hands and pulled into a room.

"RIKKU!" They started to run, when a head poked into the hall from the room Rikku was pulled into. It was a young woman, red haired and wearing glasses. She looked to be about 25.

"There you girls are! We've been waiting for you! Where have you been?" She asked, showing Yuna and Paine into a small dressing room. "You're on in 30 minutes, and you have time for 3 songs. Now hurry up!" With that, she left. Rikku, Paine and Yuna all stared at each other.

"Whaa…?" Rikku asked, confused.

"She thinks we're part of the show…" Paine said, slightly awed.

"Well, that just made our lives a whole lot easier!" Yuna said with a grin. She changed into her songstress dressphere and started to hum. "I think I'm going to sing 1000 words, like at the Thunder plains. It seems to have a really great effect on people. I have to admit that Real Emotion is a pretty good song too. You think I should sing that as well?" she asked. Rikku nodded vigorously. Paine thought a moment, then cleared her throat.

"That's all well and good, but we have a problem. We're supposed to be singing 3 songs. That's only two. Unless you know another song you haven't told us about?" She eyed Yuna suspiciously. Yuna frowned. She hadn't thought of that.

"I can't just write an entire song in 30 minutes!" She said, thinking hard. "Umm…" She sighed, her eyes wandering the room. It seemed to be a blue themed room, with mint green walls and blue and green carpets. The vanity was white, but the things on it were all green as well. There was a staircase that lead up into a loft, where a few boxes and trunks were sitting. The room was enveloped in silence; once again, all three girls were lost in thought as they tried to find a way out of their current situation. Rikku bit her lip.

"What do we do now?"

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O.o I'm on a roll! I feel so mean, not telling you what happened to poor Kairi. Well, you'll find out….next chappie! RR!


	4. A not so graceful entrance

So! Before the beginning of this chappie, I guess I kind of need to explain exactly what Kairi's claws are. There's two parts to it. It's almost like gloves, but with no fingers or thumbs. When she wears them, they almost looks like she has claws like wolverine from the x-men, only hers are much thicker and not attached to her skin. She has one of these on each hand. Both 'gloves' are made of hard leather and go about two thirds of the way up to her elbow. On her right glove, there is also a sharp metal disk that acts kind of like a boomerang when she shoots it.

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Kairi almost tripped over the blocks and she stumbled backwards. Her mind calmed surprisingly quickly, though she could still feel the adrenalin pumping through her veins. She straightened up and lifted her right hand, brandishing her claws menacingly and ready to shoot the disk.

"Riku." She said, trying to sound un-intimidated. She cringed. Her voice shook, revealing her fear. He stepped toward her, and she stepped back away from him. "Don't come any closer." She commanded, her voice more confident this time. Riku sighed. He didn't look like he was in good shape. His eyes were dulled to grey. While he wasn't physically hurt, his spirit was broken.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly. Kairi faltered. This was the last thing she had expected to hear.

"Excuse me?"

"I said I'm sorry." He looked up at her, still not looking her in the eye, but at least he wasn't staring at the ground any more. There was silence for a moment. Neither of them moved. "You said you wanted to know what these blocks are?" He asked, his voice shaking now. Kairi nodded, still silent. Riku picked one up, and studied it sadly. "These are all people who either have or will give up something very precious to them for the greater good." He explained blandly. Kairi was trembling, but she was afraid to ask what she so wanted to know.

"So…what did the Bellerophon guy give up?" she asked, avoiding what she knew was coming.

"He had to kill his brother."

"And Zaon?"

"He gave his life." That obviously shook Kairi greatly. _What happens if that's what Sora has to do? What happens if it's Sora I have to give up? What if I never get to see him again? What if it's my life that I have to sacrifice?_ She dropped her hands to her sides and looked at the ground.

"And…and what do I have to give up? And Sora?" She asked quietly. Riku stepped towards her again, and she stumbled away from him.

"I can't say. It hasn't happened yet." He replied, staring off into the darkness. He had his back to her now. There was another long, uncomfortable silence before Riku turned to face Kairi again. The movement was so sudden that Kairi stepped away from him again, holding her claws out in front of her threateningly. Riku beckoned to her. "I can show you how to get to Sora." He said, pointing into the shadows. Kairi didn't move.

"How do I know I can trust you?" She asked weakly. Riku frowned, seeming hurt.

"I don't blame you for questioning me, but I'd say you don't have much other choice. You can follow me and risk being betrayed by me, which I won't, or you can wander here for ever. Listen to me Kairi. If you don't know your way around, you'll never get out."

"Oh." There was another long silence. Kairi moved to step forward, signaling to Riku that she would follow.

They walked through the darkness for a long time. Kairi wanted very much to know how Riku was so confident in the direction he was going. After all, it's not like there was anything to mark a path. Finally, a strange sight came into view. There was a door, painted black so she almost walked right past it or even into it, and would have if Riku hadn't stopped so suddenly in front of her. He turned to face her, his expression serious.

"You're going to meet a group of people once you walk through this door who are going to take you to Sora. Then, you and Sora will have a job to do."

"What job?"

"Believe me, you'll know. Be careful though. You're going into a world you've never seen before; it'll be much different from the Islands. There are a couple of things you're going to need to know…" Riku explained a few basic things that Kairi would need to get by in this new world, and things she'd have to know so people wouldn't think she was completely crazy. Kairi listened intently. Riku finished his explanation and sighed. "Kairi, if you do through with this…you won't be going back to the Islands again. Ever. Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked solemnly. Kairi nodded, taking a deep breath. _Just because I won't be going back to the Islands doesn't mean I'll die on this adventure. Maybe I'll like this new world so much that I won't want to go back._ She told herself, trembling. Riku had disappeared into the darkness, leaving her alone with the door. She grabbed the handle, squeezed her eyes shut and, taking a deep breath, opened it and stepped through.

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Yuna, Rikku and Paine were all sitting on the floor of the green themed dressing room (AN: pardon the typo in the last chappie where I said it was a blue themed room), trying to write a song. They had 15 minutes left, and they were barely finished the first verse.

"We need a chorus." Rikku observed.

"We're very much aware of that, thank you Rikku." Paine snapped, somewhat stressed out. Yuna threw up her hands.

"We can't just write a song. We have to think of something else. What can we do to stall for time before and in between the songs?" She asked. All three girls went silent. They looked at each other, seemingly hoping to get inspiration from each other's silence. A bright flash from half way up the loft stairs drew all their attention. There was a little shriek and a shape rolled down the stairs with a thump. All three of the girls stared in utter surprise at the person lying flat on their face on the floor next to them. The newcomer sat up and groaned.

"That was NOT cool."

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I'm sure it's entirely and blatantly obvious who the newcomer is, but I'm going to leave it as a cliffy to surprise those who don't, and besides, I think it makes a good ending! I don't mean to be arrogant or anything, but I'm really excited about this story! I'm just getting warmed up! Yes! RR! And to clear up something for my dear friend Emma (this is about a comment she made on my old version of this story). No, Tidus and Sora do not know each other because the Zanarkand Tidus and the Destiny Islands Tidus both have different histories and I need the Zanarkand one for the purpose of this story, and also: no Rinoa isn't with Squall in the KH game (Leon, as he calls himself, is with Yuffie and Arieth). Cool? Cool.


	5. Tears gone unchecked

Kairi stuck her tongue out, looking utterly disgusted.

"Gross, a mouthful of carpet." She said, sitting up. She blinked, he room spinning around her. Her little tumble had made her more than a little dizzy. She could see three blurred shapes sitting in front of her. She was rubbing her eyes when one of the people spoke.

"Where'd you come from?" When Kairi opened her eyes again, her vision was clearer. Two women, looking 2 or 3 years older than Kairi were staring openly at her, and a third who looked to be about Kairi's age, if not a little older, was looking at her curiously. It was the younger of the three who had asked the question. Kairi swallowed.

"I'm, umm, from some small islands a long way from here. You've probably never heard of them."

"I think I do know what you're talking about. I'm from Besaid Island, if that's what you mean." One of the elder two said kindly. She pushed a stand of brown hair out of her striking, mismatched eyes. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Umm, sorry, but the...Baseed Island isn't what I was talking about. The place I'm from is called the Destiny Islands. I've lived there since I was little. I don't really remember where I came from before that." Kairi said, standing up.

"I know what you mean. I was born in Bevelle, but I don't exactly have any fond childhood memories of it."

"Who are you, anyway?" The other elder woman asked, seeming to be not impressed. She made Kairi rather uncomfortable.

"I'm Kairi." She relplied, smiling at each of them.

"Nice to meetcha!" The blonde, younger one exclaimed, shaking Kairi's hand vigorously. Kairi was expecting them to introduce themselves to her and when they didn't she had to ask.

"What are all your names?" The three of them looked surprised for a moment, then the brown haired one smiled.

"Of course," she whispered. "We're not in our Spira any more. She wouldn't have any idea who we are." The other two nodded. "My name's Yuna, pleased to meet you."

"I'm RIKKU!" The blonde one announced, throwing her arms into the air and giggling.

"Paine." Kairi smiled timidly at Paine, slightly intimidated by her. Rikku slung her arms around Paine's shoulders.

"Aww, don't be such a spoil sport! We're supposed to be having fun, remember?" Paine rolled her eyes.

"Oh that's right. I forgot." She replied sarcastically. Rikku didn't seem to pick up on the sarcasm, however. Everyone stopped as the door opened. A black haired man looked inside and nodded.

"Ten minutes, girls." All three of the Gullwing girls were instantly reminded of their dilemma.

"Thank you." Yuna replied, a signal for the man to leave. As soon as the door was closed, Yuna slumped down onto the floor. "What are we going to do? We still don't have a plan!"

"Think think think think think!" Rikku muttered, starting to pace. Kairi seemed entirely confused. Only Paine seemed to see that their prayers had just been answered.

"Can you sing?" She asked Kairi, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Well…" Kairi started, unsure of herself. "I mean, I'm not the greatest in the world I'm sure, but…"

"Show us!" Yuna said happily, watching Kairi expectantly. Kairi sighed.

"Alright…" She cleared her throat. "Turn it inside out so I can see, the part of you that's drifting over me, and when I wake you're, you're never there, but when I sleep you're, you're everywhere, you're everywhere" She was going to keep going, but stopped as Yuna jumped to her feet.

"Yes yes yes yes yes! Kairi, you've saved us!"

"Excuse me?" Kairi asked, now thoroughly baffled. Yuna calmed herself down.

"Look, we need you to do us a favour."

"What kind of favour?" Kairi asked, still slightly on edge due to the outburst.

"I'm looking for someone, and he's going to be here tonight, but we need to catch his attention. I was going to sing but I need you to sing the last song in the set, please?" Yuna bit her lip, wondering whether she should be even asking this girl that she'd just met to do something so huge for her. Kairi's eyes went wide. _Riku was telling the truth! These people really are going to take me to Sora!_

"You're looking for Sora aren't you?!" Kairi asked, a little too excited. Yuna's eyes dropped.

"I'm sorry, I've never heard of anyone named Sora…"

"But…but Riku said you'd take me to him…"

"I did?" Rikku asked, bewildered.

"No, not you, " Kairi replied quietly. She stood up, and turned to face the stairs. "No, it was a very different Riku who did this to me! A Riku who was supposed to be my best friend! A Riku who was consumed by evil! A Riku who tried to KILL Sora! MY RIKU! MY Riku, who betrayed me and left me in a world that I don't belong in, with no clue of where I am and no hope of ever going home again!" she cried, frustrated. She dropped to her knees, trying to keep herself from sobbing. "I should have never listened, I should have never listened to him. He lied to me. He lied, I should have known…" She murmured, her voice thick with tears. She felt Yuna's hands on her back, and Rikku's arm around her shoulders.

"Please don't cry Kairi. Please don't. We'll help you find him if you'd like." Yuna offered, troubled by Kairi's tears.

"It's no use. Sora's probably not even anywhere close to here. He said he'd come back to find me and when he does, I'm not even going to be there waiting for him…" Kairi whispered, wiping her eyes. Yuna's heart felt like it was going to break in two.

"Don't cry. I know what it's like." She offered. Kairi sighed.

"You couldn't possibly." she replied quietly. She felt like no one could ever understand what it was like, to have lost Sora like she did. Yuna was silent for a moment, her own voice unwilling to speak the words that would make her relive the memory of loosing Tidus.

"…Back when I was a summoner…" She started, wondering how to say what she needed to. She tried again. "Ever since I was little, I knew I was going to be a summoner, and with that I knew I was going to die to give the world of few years of peace. When I started my Pilgrimage, I met someone named Tidus…" She paused, trying to control her own tears. Kairi was watching her intensely. Yuna cleared her throat and continued. "After I fought what should have been my last battle, I didn't die...Tidus did." Both of them stared at each other for a long time. Finally, Yuna swallowed and spoke again. "But, now, we're here, Rikku and Paine and I, because I was given a chance to find Tidus again." She smiled, half crying. Kairi was gaping at her, oblivious to the tears still rolling unchecked down her cheeks. Yuna sighed. "So I guess what I'm trying to say…" she paused. The two girls looked at each other for a moment longer, and Yuna, unable to stop herself (not that she wanted to), pulling Kairi into a hug, whispering, "Don't give up. I know what it's like and I'll go to the end of the world with you to help you find him, just, please; never, ever, ever give up hope."


	6. Songs, booms and a great nasty lizard

"Ladies? Could you follow me please? You'll be on soon." A young man said, beckoning for Kairi, Yuna, Rikku and Paine to follow. He led the girls through many halls, doors and up and down a number of staircases. As they walked, Kairi was talking with Yuna.

"So, you said you were here to find this… Tidus guy, right?"

"That's right. The Fayth brought me here." Yuna replied absently. Kairi recalled Riku telling her about the Fayth spirit. _Well, at least he wasn't lying about that._ She thought bitterly.

"The Fayth brought you here? Couldn't you somehow get here by yourself?"

"No, if I could have I would have done so a long time ago. This Zanarkand is a dream. The Fayth took me from my world and brought me here so I could find Tidus."

"So, this isn't the real world then…"

"Not entirely. There's no reason why this city should be any different than the cities in Spira, but this is just a dream all the same. Not reality." Yuna explained as they were brought to a door and told to wait. Kairi was thankful for the dark; Yuna and the others weren't able to see how upset she was. _So, Yuna left her world to stay in this dream with Tidus? There's no way for me to go back then! I'm stuck here forever and I'll never find Sora…_The loud cheers of the crowds grabbed her attention. She saw the silhouette of one of the stadium staff as she walked over to the girls.

"You're on!" she whispered, motioning for the girls to go onstage. They did so, somewhat anxious at first but as the crowd began to cheer even louder as they stepped into the spotlight, they became much more relaxed. Out of the corner of her eye, Yuna saw a commotion in the section of seats that all the blitzball players were sitting in, and could easily guess what had happened; Tidus had seen her. She smiled in spite of herself. The four girls took a last moment to prepare themselves.

"Ready, girls?" Yuna asked quietly. Kairi, Paine and Rikku nodded. Kairi was finding that, slowly, she was forgetting her troubles, ready to let herself immerse herself in the music. Yuna started to sing, 1000 words first. The girls were an instant success. The crowd loved her, cheering constantly. Kairi caught sight of one particular player that was staring at Yuna, seemingly in disbelief. She decided that he must be Tidus. Yuna began to sing Real Emotion. There was a low beat, so low it was almost not there, but so loud it shook the stage. The song finished but by the end of it, the beat was so loud that it was shaking the entire stadium now, and it didn't show any sign of stopping. Yuna stepped toward Kairi, whispering.

"Your turn. I'm going to get Tidus." Kairi nodded in reply and took a small step forward. The crowd continued to cheer. She cleared her throat, and began; only, what she started to sing wasn't at all what she had planned. She was going to sing 'Everywhere', the same song she'd been singing for Yuna, Rikku and Paine. Instead, as soon as she opened her mouth, something entirely different came out. It was a song she'd never heard before, yet somehow she knew it off by heart.

_Can't you see?  
There's a feeling that's come over me  
Close my eyes  
You're the only one that leaves me _

_completely breathless_

The entire stadium had gone completely silent. The strange beat was deafening, especially with the only other noise being Kairi's voice. Kairi still didn't recognize the song, yet she was singing it perfectly, never missing a beat. She wasn't even aware of what was going on around her anymore. All she knew was this song.__

No need to wonder why  
Sometimes a gift like this you can't deny

_  
_Kairi could feel her memories rushing back to her. Images of what happened at Kingdom Hearts. It was so vivid. She wanted her heart, so Sora gave her his.

_  
'Cause I wanted to fly,  
so you gave me your wings  
And time held its breath so I could see, yeah  
And you set me free_

She could feel her eyes filling with tears now. She didn't know where this song came from, but she knew it was her song and she knew now that she needed to sing it, she needed to release these emotions that she'd held inside for so long.

_  
There's a will  
There's a way  
Sometimes words just can't explain  
This is real  
I'm afraid  
I guess this time there's just no hiding, fighting  
You make me restless_

You're in my heart  
The only light that shines  
there in the dark

'Cause I wanted to fly,  
so you gave me your wings  
And time held its breath so I could see, yeah  
And you set me free

When I was alone  
You came around  
When I was down  
You pulled me through  
And there's nothing that  
I wouldn't do for you

'Cause I wanted to fly,  
so you gave me your wings  
And time held its breath so I could see, yeah  
And you set me free

She finished, and the stadium was silent. There was not a sound, not a breath, not a rustle of cloth, save for the low booming that had gotten even louder and still showed no sign of stopping. Every eye in the room was fixed on Kairi, most of which were filled with tears. In a moment, it seemed everyone came to their senses. There was an eruption of applause; the entire stadium was on their feet. Kairi saw Yuna just beginning to thread her way through the people towards Tidus. _What is she doing? Why didn't she go before I finished?_ Kairi casually watched her, smiling and accepting the cheers. The beating got suddenly a lot faster, and much louder. Many people held their hands over their ears. Kairi cringed, looking for it's source. She caught sight of Paine, who was dressed differently then she had been a moment ago, in black armour with red (black knight dressphere) and was now holding a very large sword very threateningly, her eyes flashing around, trying to locate the source of the booming. It wasn't a steady beat as it had been before. They had become loud, random, earth shattering booms. Then, in an huge explosion, a side of the stadium (thankfully one with few people) was blown off, a huge hole yawning in the ground. The crowds that were silent and clam only moments ago were now complete chaos. Everyone was on their feet. Kairi saw a flash out of the corner of her eye and glanced at it. Yuna was now dressed differently too. She was wearing brown coloured leather with red (warrior dressphere). She was pushing through the crowds more forcefully now, trying to get to Tidus. As she reached him, she thrust her sword into his hands before a security guard pushed her towards the door and grabbed Tidus by the arm, pulling him towards the backstage. As Kairi watched, there was another flash of light and Yuna was again dressed differently. This time she was wearing different patches of fur, clawed paws on her hands and feet, and bull's horns on her head. Kairi blinked. Yuna launched herself above the crowds, leaping up to the second level on seats, which was nearly empty, and bounding toward the hole. Paine was running toward it as well, Rikku running after her and quickly catching up. She too was wearing a new outfit (the Thief). Kairi blinked again. _Once this is over, they have some explaining to do._ She decided. Fitting her claws on and slashing through the air experimentally, she followed. Yuna was the first to reach the gap. Almost as soon as she did, an enormous monster exploded out of it. It was a huge, lizard-like creature with blue scales that shone red.

"Veaht!" Rikku cried, running harder. Most didn't understand. Those that did either screamed or yelled something about a fiend. Yuna let out a surprisingly terrifying roar, pacing in front of the creature. Rikku reached the fiend next, immediately jumping at it cutting into it with one hand with he weapon and snatching something from it with her other. Kairi was running behind Paine, pushing herself to run faster. She let herself slow down a bit, taking careful aim with her disk. She shot it, with good aim. It sliced into the lizard's shoulder, cutting right through and spinning back to Kairi. Paine cut into the fiend with her sword, injecting a green substance that Kairi suspected to be poison. The creature growled, whipping its tail at Kairi (who just jumped out of the way) and bringing it's claws down on Yuna. Yuna dodged the first swipe - ducking out of its way - and the second by jumping over it and digging her claws into its arm, latching herself to it. It screamed an unearthly cry and tried to use its tail to whip her off. She was starting to climb up to its shoulder when the first attack came down hard on her back. She cringed and flattened herself against the arm, bracing for the second attack. Tidus had managed to push himself out of the crowd and was cutting deep gashes into its tail. It growled, trying to slash at him with its claws, but he stepped out of the way. Instead, it hit Paine, who stumbled a bit, but stood straight again with more determination than before.

"Let's finish this." She pointed her sword at it, driving the blade into the fiend's chest. It screamed at her. A blue energy was flowing out of the gash, through the sword and into Paine. It screamed again, this time louder and more ear-piercing than before. Paine could recognize that attack anywhere: petrification. She smirked. "Nice try." She muttered, drawing her sword out of the wound. The creature lowered its head, trying to bite her, and Kairi took the opportunity. She ran at it and launching herself as high as she could, she grabbed one of the spikes on the back of its head to swing herself up on its back. From there, she pierced her claws through the scales and jumped. Her claws dragged down its back, cutting multiple, long gashes all the way down it. Yuna pulled herself over the fiend's shoulder and onto its back, following Kairi's example with her own claws. Landing on the ground next to Kairi, she grinned and once again a flash of light enveloped her and she was changed again, this time into a blue and pink skirt, purple top and pointed hat. She carried a staff which she pointed at the creature. In a moment, a lightning bolt flew out of the tip of the staff and crashed into the creatures back. It collapsed instantaneously, fading into pyreflies. Yuna smiled at Rikku and Paine triumphantly. Kairi took her opportunity and asked Yuna quickly.

"How did you change like that?"

"Like what?"

"You went from that blue dress to animal skins, then to this!"

"Dresspheres." she replied simply, her attention turning to Tidus and changing again, this time into jean shorts, a white top, boots, a gun strapped to her belt (gunner dressphere). Kairi walked over to Paine, intent on getting an answer. Rikku giggled and tackled Tidus in a hug, almost knocking him to the ground.

"OHHH! We found you!" She laughed. Tidus grinned, slightly surprised.

"Rikku?" He asked, still unsure whether it was he same Al Bhed girl he'd met those years ago.

"That's me!" She said, spinning around. "Tada!" Tidus laughed. Out of the dorner of his eye, he saw movement. It was Kairi, as she walked over to Paine. As he glanced in that direction, he saw something that made his mind stop for a moment, because he wasn't sure whether it really could be possible, whether or not his eyes were playing tricks on him.

"…Yuna?" She looked up at him, her figure silhouetted against the setting sun. As she walked over to him, her features became clearer. Her hair was shorter than it used to be. He'd grown more than she had since he last saw her; he was more than half a head taller than she was now. She'd certainly changed. Two years ago, she never would have dressed the way she was now, nor would she have dreamed of carrying a weapon like a gun. He glanced at the sword in his hand. It was his Brotherhood. It had to be her. She stopped, right in front of him. When he looked up at her again, he lost all doubt that it was her. He never forgot the look in her eyes that night in Macalania: love, happiness, and a little bit of apprehension. She had the same look in her mismatched eyes now. He smiled. "Yuna… how did you-?" She cut him off, putting one of her fingers to his lips.

"Later." she whispered. More on instinct than anything else, because his mind was numb, his arms wound their way around her waist. Yuna smiled slightly, and kissed him. "I missed you." She whispered. Tidus smiled.

"I love you." He replied, kissing her again and again. Kairi was in the middle of asking about dresspheres to Paine, when she stopped, watching Tidus and Yuna intently. Paine nudged her.

"Kairi." She muttered. It was no use. Kairi was lost in her thoughts. Suddenly, Kairi turned on her heel and raced out of the stadium, disappearing in the gathering darkness. "Kairi!" Paine shouted. Yuna, Rikku and Tidus all turned and stared at Paine and then at the shrinking shadow of Kairi as she ran off. Rikku ran over to Paine.

"We'll find her." she told Yuna and Tidus.

"But-." Yuna began to argue, but Paine interrupted her.

"It's fine, Yuna. Stay here. We need someone to make sure no one is wandering near that hole, anyway." With that, Paine started out of the stadium. Rikku winked, grinning.

"Besides, I'm sure you two have a lot of catching up to do!" She said before following Paine. The two girls got outside and looked up and down the street.

"I'll go this way, you go that way." Paine instructed. Rikku nodded, and the two girls began their search.


	7. Paineful confessions

Paine finally found Kairi sitting on the ground against a wall, staring out over the water in silence. The warrior began to walk faster, slightly angered. _What did she think she was doing, just running off like that?! We don't know this city and neither does she, not to mention the fact that if we don't get back to the stadium soon, we're not going to ever get back to Spira! _She wasn't far from the girl now, and was about to chastise her when Kairi did something she hadn't expected. She began to sing.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kairi ran. And ran. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew she didn't want to go back. Not yet anyways. She didn't understand how she could be so upset. She should be happy for Yuna, and she knew Yuna would do anything to help her find Sora now. How could she be so self-centered when Yuna was being so kind to her? She was running out of breath, and she knew that they'd be looking for her. She decided that they weren't going to find her until she was ready to be found, slipping into the shadows between a building and the water and settled down on the concrete. She sat there for a long time. There was a warm breeze rising off the water and it reminded her of the Destiny Islands. She wasn't sure if the memory was helping her or hurting her more. Before she could stop herself, she had tears streaming down her cheeks, sobbing softly. She didn't know how long she cried for, but it felt like a very long time. She had run out of tears but the pain was still as strong as before. She didn't bother to wipe away the single tear that was left clinging to her eyelashes. With nowhere else to turn for comfort, she started to sing.

_Goodnight, sleep tight  
No more tears  
In the morning I'll be here_

Her eyes were closed, but when she opened them, she swore she could see Sora standing in front of her. She never knew herself to have hallucinations, but she'd also never missed anyone the way she was missing him now. She could feel her heart cracking and breaking, spilling all her sadness and hurt out through her. She paused in her song, looking up at him standing in front of her. He bent over so her was at eye level with her and she could never have imagined a hallucination to be so vivid as this one.

_  
And when we say goodnight,  
Dry your eyes_

Her final tear was rolling down her cheek now. Sora, still smiling sadly, reached out and gently wiped it away. She shut her eyes, savouring the feeling of his skin against hers. Her eyes snapped open when she realized that she had in fact felt him touch her. Desperately, she grasped at his hand as he pulled it away, but her hand fell right through him. He frowned, looking at his hand them back at her. He tried to speak, but no sound came out of his mouth. She could tell, though, that he'd been saying 'Goodnight'. With that, he vanished. The tears came back in full force, now, as she barely was able to finish the song. Her voice was quiet as she sang the last lines:

_  
Because we said goodnight,  
And not goodbye  
We said goodnight  
And not goodbye_

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Paine was stopped dead. The song had brought her to tears. Paine was a woman who very rarely showed any emotion, and yet a single song could reduce her to tears. Since the first few words were sung, she had been swamped with an unexplainable sadness. She felt as if she was missing someone. Shutting her eyes, she let herself dig deeper into these unexpected feelings to find a cause. Deep inside her, she felt the swirling sadness, the terrible longing. And at the center of it all was… Baralai?! Her eyes snapped open and she was pulled out of her deep thought as Kairi spoke.

"Paine?" she asked quietly, wiping her eyes.

"Kairi! I…" she started to reprimand her, but couldn't find the words or the will anymore. This was definitely not normal. Kairi was watching her curiously as she cleared her throat. "Come on. Rikku and Yuna are waiting." The two of them began to walk in silence. They hadn't gotten far when Kairi whispered something incomprehensible. Paine glanced at her. "What?" Kairi looked up and half smiled.

"Paine? Can I…ask you something? It's kind of important." Paine could tell from the tone of Kairi's voice what kind of a question it was going to be.

"Look Kairi. I'm not the greatest at answering these kinds of questions. You'd be better off going to Yuna about it, she's the most understanding of the three of us." She replied bluntly. Kairi hid a smile.

"But I haven't even asked the question yet. How do you know?"

"Yuna's better at answering any of those kinds of questions, no matter what it is." There was silence for another moment.

"I can't go to Yuna with this question. Besides, I think you _would_ be the best person to answer it."

"Shoot." Paine offered, resigned.

"Well…How do you deal?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you're always so calm and collected. You never let your emotions get in the way of anything. And then there's me. I can't even be happy for Yuna without feeling sorry for myself. I want to know how you manage to be the way you are." Paine shrugged.

"I've always been like this. Even more so since the incident with the Crimson Squad. Even though that's all over now, I'm still the way I am." She paused, deciding on whether or not she wanted to continue. She lowered her voice substantially. "Besides, I'm not as unbreakable as you think. Your song…"

"Well, my singing does those weird things to people. It's not the first time something like that has happened. What happened with the Crimson Squad?"

"Betrayal. After that, I swore I'd never put that kind of trust into anyone again, and this is how I ended up." Paine replied. _It all seems so simple._ Kairi thought, sighing._ Why am I not like her then? Why am I still so hurt? I've been betrayed like that before. Twice. Why am I still so vulnerable?_ As if Paine had read her thoughts, she spoke. "I guess some people react to different kinds of pain in different ways. I scar. You heal." Paine was looking Kairi in the eyes now, and Kairi got the impression that Paine was telling her things she told very few people. "Sometimes I wish I could be more like you, and like Yuna. It seems to me that you two are very good at getting over these things. Me? I turn bitter and hard. I guess we all want to be what we're not sometimes."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sora's eyes snapped open. The sunlight filled them momentarily, blinding him as he rolled out of bed. He, Donald and Goofy were all set to explore this new and vast world, and they had decided the day before that they would begin in the biggest city, Luca, in Spira as they were told this world was called. Sora reached up and pulled the blinds down, throwing a shadow over the room. He let his eyes adjust. Standing up and getting ready, he was not smiling. He picked up his Keyblade, and was ready to go out and get Donald and Goofy, but he stayed, staring into the mirror. He wasn't staring at himself, it was more that he was staring off into the mirror itself. He'd had a most strange, most troubling, most upsetting dream. He shook his head, trying to get it out of his mind, walking outside. They'd been staying in a small hotel on the outskirts of the city. Donald and Goofy's rooms were on each side of his. He'd had quite a bit of trouble paying for the rooms with his munny, because apparently this world used a different currency, which he was told was called gil. In the end, he convinced the cleric to take the munny (once Sora offered to pay him twice what he was asking for as an exchange rate). Donald was on his way out of his room too, and they found Goofy waiting for them in the lobby. First thing on their list to do that day was to go get some of this gil. They had walked out into what appeared to be the main square of the city. Goofy was looking at Sora…again. He looked almost worried. Sora looked up at him, trying to seem relaxed, which proved to be hard as the dream was still weighing heavily on his mind.

"What's up, Goofy?" he asked, trying to sound normal.

"Are you okay, Sora?" Goofy asked in reply. It was obvious Sora's attempt to be relaxed had not worked. He kept the mask on anyways.

"Sure, why?"

"Goofy's right, Sora." Donald agreed. "There's something wrong."

"Come on, Sora, tell us." Goofy urged him. Sora sighed, sitting down on one of the benches.

"It's nothing big, it was just a dream." There was silence for a moment. Donald and Goofy were waiting for Sora to continue, and he obliged, his mind telling him that he shouldn't worry Goofy and Donald about it and get over it, but it was also telling him that it was something bigger, and that it would help if he talked about it. "I dreamt I was in a city."

"Like Traverse?" Donald asked.

"No, it was way bigger. There were towers that were higher than anything I'd ever seen before, and it was huge. It looked like it would take weeks just to walk from one end to the other. And it was surrounded almost completely by water. And it was lit up all the time. It was so bright that you couldn't even see the stars. And Kairi was there. She was sitting by the water. Everywhere else in the city was full of people. But here, it was only her. And there was another woman walking toward her, but I don't know who she was. Kairi was sitting by the water, and she was crying. I was standing on the water, and I tried to go to her, but I couldn't. My feet wouldn't move. Then she started singing. I've never heard her sing before. She had an amazing voice. The song was so sad though. Once she started singing, I could move, so I went to her. She looked so surprised when she saw me. Even when she was singing, it looked like she was still crying, because there were still tears in her eyes. I wiped away one of her tears, and she tried to grab my hand, but it was like I was a ghost. Her hand went right through me. She started to cry again, and everything disappeared. I didn't even get to hear the rest of her song." There was a long silence. Sora was staring at the ground. They'd been to Destiny Islands, but when they arrived, she was gone. No one could find her anywhere. Sora had worried over where she could have gone, until he found the door in the Secret Place. Or rather, he didn't find it. It was gone. And he knew that's where she went. It was his fault she left. He hadn't come for her soon enough. Goofy's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Don't worry Sora, we'll find her."

"…I hope so."


	8. I'm found, I'm bored and I'm hungry

When Paine and Kairi returned to the stadium, they found Rikku had already returned and was lying on the ground, staring off into space, across the doorway. Paine frowned and nudged the thief with her boot.

"Get up." She ordered lazily, as Kairi simply hopped over Rikku and continued on her way. Rikku grinned up at Paine.

"Ummmm…no." she replied, stretched and adjusting her position to make herself more comfortable. "You found Kairi?"

"What does it look like?" Paine asked irritably. Rikku's expression turned serious as she sat up, eyeing the warrior suspiciously.

"You didn't get mad at her, did you?"

"Ye…" She stopped in mid-word, realizing that she had only intended to get angry with Kairi, but didn't actually vent her anger. Perhaps this was why she was being so short with Rikku, and maybe it was better this way; Rikku was used to having Paine be short with her. "No."

"Well, that's good. She's new, we should try to be nice." Rikku reasoned, standing up and brushing the dust off her back. She looked around. "Where'd Kairi go, anyway?"

"She's already gone inside. I had assumed you noticed as she had to jump over you to do so." Paine replied. She started inside as well, taking only a few steps before noticing that Rikku wasn't following her. She turned around to face the defiant girl. "Well?" Her voice was impatient. Rikku stuck her tongue out.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Sheesh."

Back inside the stadium, Kairi found Yuna and Tidus sitting in some of the lower level chairs, settled quietly in each others arms. Kairi felt her heart twisting. _No. I should be happy for them, not feeling sorry for myself._ She thought resolutely. Yuna caught sight of her and smiled. Kairi smiled in return and walked up to them, sitting next to the ex-summoner. Once she was sitting, Yuna's expression of quaint contentment turned to worry.

"Is something wrong, Kairi?" she asked quietly. Kairi tried her best to look confused.

"No, why would you think that?"

"Well, you ran off with no explanation for one thing." Yuna replied, looking Kairi in the eyes. Kairi shrugged.

"Don't worry about it." She turned her attention to Tidus. He was watching her intently, the look on his face clearly telling her that he had no idea who she was. "Hi! I'm Kairi. You're Tidus, right?" She offered him her hand. He took it and shook it uncertainly.

"I'm Tidus." he agreed, nodding and looking still more confused. Kairi grinned.

"Yuna talks about you a lot. Well, she must. I wouldn't really know. I only met her about an hour ago, so I guess if she told me about you already then she must talk about you a lot." Kairi said, her grin widening as both Yuna's and Tidus' faces turned very red. Tidus smiled, cupping his gloved had around Yuna's cheek and turning her face toward him.

"So I hear you talk about me a lot…" he said, touching his nose to hers. Kairi's heart twisted in her chest again, but the feeling passed mush faster this time. Kairi let her eyes wander, feeling rather uncomfortable. Thankfully, the arrival of Rikku and Paine saved her.

"Well, isn't this charming." Both Yuna and Tidus looked up quickly, their faces turning red again. Paine was standing with her arms crossed, looking very amused with a smirk dancing across her usually expressionless lips. Rikku came running up behind her, grabbing her shoulders to use as a spring as she leapt over Yuna's head and on top of the chair just behind. Paine stumbled, catching herself on the arm of Kairi's chair.

"Well! I guess we'd better get going!" Rikku said brightly. Everyone looked at her, bewildered. She tilted to head to one side in reply. "Well?"

"Well what, Rikku?" Paine asked, finding Rikku was being more than just annoying.

"Well we'd better get going on finding the Fayth!" Rikku replied. Yuna and Paine seemed to understand.

"I guess your right." Yuna agreed reluctantly. She was about to stand up, but she paused, thinking out loud. "Now wait…. the Fayth said he'd find us though, right?"

"Right" Rikku agreed exasperatedly, "but it wouldn't hurt to look, right?"

"It would hurt to look." Paine argued. "The Fayth obviously knew we were here, that's why that crisis was here, so it will be here that he will look for us."

"But if he wanted to find us here, he would have found us already!" Rikku whined. Paine rolled her eyes.

"Great. Rikku's bored. Won't this be a pleasant wait."

"So what if I'm bored?" Rikku asked defensively.

"You're annoying if you're bored." Paine replied. Rikku was going to reply, but Kairi spoke first.

"So, what's going on?" She asked. Tidus nodded in agreement.

"The Fayth said he was going to come find us." Paine replied.

"Why?" Tidus asked, puzzled once again.

"So we can go home, silly!" Rikku replied, jumping over his head and landing smoothly on the ground in front of Paine.

"Where's home then?" Kairi asked. It was looking very mush like she was the only one who was still unsure of what was going on.

"In Spira." Yuna said kindly. She turned to Tidus. "Only if you want to though. If you want to stay, I'll stay with you."

"Won't Brother be devastated." Paine said, half smiling. Yuna looked horrified. Paine seemed mildly surprised. "What? You didn't know?"

"Yes…I did." Yuna replied, blushing again. Tidus looked utterly lost again. Rikku was about to explain, but Yuna cut her off. "Don't worry about it, Tidus." she said hurriedly.

Hours passed. Rikku had resorted to running laps around the stadium to be rid of her excess energy. Kairi was sitting next to the huge hole, staring down into it. Paine was pacing, swinging her sword lazily. Yuna was half asleep in Tidus' arms. Tidus seemed to be edging toward sleep as well. Rikku was rounding the final bend on her most recent lap, when she slowed, and then stopped next to Paine, gasping for breath.

"I don't think the Fayth is coming here. I think we need to look." Rikku said.

"He shouldn't need to look. This is his dream, he should know what's happening where, right?" Yuna replied.

"Let's do something." Rikku whined. Paine sighed.

"I'm all for doing just about anything but this."

Meanwhile, Kairi was staring into the darkness, not sure if she should be happy or not. _Riku… you seemed so trustworthy. You looked like you really were sorry. Was that real, or was I just so desperate to leave that place I imagined you to look trustworthy, so I could let myself follow you, let you lead me out of there? I hope it was real. I hope you were really back to your normal self. If you were telling the truth though, I should find Sora in this world, because you wouldn't have led me here otherwise. But, now Yuna and the others are leaving this world…I don't want to be here alone, but I want to find Sora. I wish I knew what to do._ Rikku's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Come on Kairi! We're gonna go do some exploring!" She called, waving to her as she followed Yuna, Tidus and Paine out of the stadium. Kairi stood up, running to catch up to them. She pushed her heavy thoughts out of her mind, deciding that she's have more than enough time to think about them later. Catching up the group, Kairi found herself walking next to avery happy Rikku. Suddenly, the yound thief's expression fell. "Ohhhh....I'm hungry."


	9. Decisions, decisions

Yuna, Tidus, Kairi, Rikku and Paine were all walking out of the stadium, filling the entire breadth of the huge archway, when they stopped abruptly. There were hundreds, if not thousands of people gathered outside the stadium. The smaller group seemed very surprised, especially Rikku, Paine and Kairi.

"Oh?" Kairi said, staring in disbelief. "These people weren't here before…" Before anyone else could say anything else, people in the crowd started yelling. They all seemed to begin at the same time, so none could understand what they were saying.

"Stop yelling! One at a time!" Paine shouted, though her voice was drowned out by the racket.

Kairi, who was standing between Rikku and Yuna, leaned over to the thief and said, "I would certainly like to know if this is a welcome party or an angry mob." Rikku nodded, her hands moving discreetly to her weapons. Kairi, whose hands were behind her back to hide her claws, flexed her fingers, tensing her muscles to be ready for a fight. The yelling continued, and Paine continued to attempt to shout over the noise, though her efforts were still very unsuccessful. It was becoming very clear that the people had no intention of quieting down any time soon. Kairi sighed. She had an idea, but she wasn't so sure she wanted to risk it. _Come on Kairi, you're the best shot on the islands, you can't miss!_ she thought, convincing herself to do it. She stepped forward, whipping her right claw out from behind her back and aiming carefully. No one seemed to pay her any mind. The crowd shut up pretty quickly though, when they found a sharp metal disk whizzing over their heads, turning around and coming flying back to Kairi. Everyone stared at her, including Yuna, Tidus, Paine and Rikku. Avoiding the eyes of her friends, she smiled at the audience.

"Now, would someone, and only one person, kindly explain what's going on here?" She asked, letting her voice resonate through the streets. An older man with his grey hair cropped short, a shaved beard and a very long moustache spoke.

"We are here concerning the monster." He said calmly. It was odd to see a frail old man speaking so calmly about a raging fiend.

"The fiend is dead." Paine said, swinging her blade absently.

"We are aware of that." The man replied shortly. "We wish to see and thank our famed blitzer and hero." The man said, his eyes on Tidus. There was complete silence for a moment.

"…Me?" Tidus asked finally, sounding incredulous. The man nodded. Tidus raised his eyebrows. "Let me get this straight, you think I just jumped out of the crowd and killed the fiend with my bare hands?" A few people nodded. Tidus almost laughed aloud. "I'm sorry, but you've _really_ got your story wrong. Firstly, I had a weapon. This is my Brotherhood. The only reason I have this is because Yuna gave it to me." He lifted the impressive blade over his head and took Yuna's hand, smiling at her. Turning his attention back to the audience, he continued. "To be honest, I really didn't take much of a part in the fight. Yuna, Paine, Rikku and Kairi were the ones who really took the fiend down." The old man looked skeptical.

"You can't honestly expect me to believe that four little girls outfought you." He said airily. Tidus' eyes narrowed.

"Hey! Call them what you want, but they've all done amazing things! Rikku was one of Yuna's guardians, along with myself, and the only girl I know who can take out a machine in a single well placed hit in a fight! Yuna's the High Summoner, the one who saved us all from Sin, ready to give her life for her people!" Tidus shouted angrily. Yuna stepped forward too.

"Paine was part of the elite Crimson Squad, fighting along side fighting alongside the likes of Nooj, Gippal and Baralai!"

"Not to mention Rikku, Yuna and myself fighting and destroying the Vegnagun, a feat most people thought was totally impossible." Paine added.

"Yeh! I'd like to see you take on a fiend like that anyways!" Rikku cried angrily. The old man clearly saw his mistake. He was silenced for a moment, trying desperately to find a way to salvage his pride. His eyes settled on Kairi.

"Maybe you three have done those things, but what had she done?" He asked, confident that he could use Kairi to take the people's minds of his mistake. Everyone looked at Kairi. Rikku furrowed her eyebrows, whispering.

"Yeh, Kairi, how did you get here anyways?" Kairi's group of new found friends seemed curious, but the stares of the crowd seemed cruel. Kairi sighed.

"I guess I really don't belong in the company of heroes." She said quietly. No one heard her, however. She sighed again, raising her voice a little. "What have I done? Well, I was there when the Heartless attacked my home, destroying it and taking me prisoner. I was there when one of my best friends tried to save me, and fell into darkness. I was there when one of my other best friends locked all of the worlds and destroyed the Heartless to save me. I guess I really haven't done anything, I was just there for everything." She paused. The old man looked triumphant. He was about to speak, but Kairi spoke first, deciding that maybe she was better than she was giving herself credit for. "Well, if I've done anything, I've spent a long time in the darkness, and I came back. I needed help, and I don't deny that. But I can say that no one else has spent longer in the darkness, with their heart stolen from them, and been able to come back to the light. After that, I vowed never to be as helpless as I was before the attack, and if it counts for anything, I've become the best shot on the islands. And I've been inside Kingdom Hearts." Everything stopped. There was silence. Everyone seemed to be stopped in time. It took a moment for Tidus, Yuna, Rikku and Paine to realize that time was indeed stopped, and that they were exempt from it. The Fayth appeared in front of them, smiling.

"Well done. You found him faster than I had anticipated. Ah well. I do suppose it's about time we brought the four of you back to Spira." He said. The group seemed to relax. It was Yuna who noticed it first.

"What do you mean, the four of us? There's five…" As she spoke, she saw that Kairi was frozen in time, too. Her jaw dropped. "What?! You mean to say Kairi's not coming back to Spira?"

"No. I said I was going to bring the four of you back and I will fulfill that promise, but no more."

"What?" Rikku cried, grabbing Kairi's frozen shoulder and shaking her. Everyone had expected that moving Kairi would be impossible, because she was frozen, but instead, Kairi stumbled backwards, landing hard on the steps. Rubbing her back, she stood up.

"Ahhh… dizzy…" She mumbled, stumbling again. This time, Rikku and Paine caught her before she fell. She shook her head to clear it, and took a look around. "What's…going on?"

"The Fayth's here to take us back to Spira." Yuna said, frowning.

"What? Right-right now?" Kairi asked, visibly shaken. _Do I trust Riku or do I go with everyone else? Decide, now Kairi!_ "Umm..o-okay. If it's time to leave already…"

"You seem to be mistaken, Kairi." The Fayth said. Kairi looked at him, slightly confused.

"Hey, where'd you come from? And why is everyone else not moving?"

"Time is frozen." Paine explained. She turned her attention back to the Fayth. "And she's coming with us." She said forcefully.

"Who, me?" Kairi asked, still absolutely lost. Yuna touched Kairi's shoulder.

"The Fayth brought us here, and he promised to bring us three Gullwings and Tidus back to Spira, but your arrival…well, we seem to be having a disagreement on whether you should stay here or come with us." She explained sadly. Tidus shrugged.

"Why don't we let her decide? When it all comes down to it, it'll be her who is the most affected by the decision, so let's make it her decision." It seemed logical, and while the Fayth tried to argue, he found no argument. He also knew of Kairi's indecision. He knew that Kairi was unsure of whether or not to trust Riku and stay or to go with Yuna, and he could tell that she wanted to believe him. He gave into the request, knowing what Kairi would say.

"Alright. We'll let Kairi decide." He said, resignedly. Everyone was watching her intently. Kairi was dumbfounded. _Oh no, what do I do? I have to choose! I should trust Riku, he's been one of my best friends for years. But, he was lost in the darkness and I of all people should know what that could have done to him…_Her mind turned to moment she saw him. She remembered it vividly. She'd already been feeling upset, and then when he showed up…but what was it that she was so upset about again? _Those blocks, the ones with mine and Sora's name on them. There were so many of them…with Paine's name on it! And Yuna's and Rikku's and Tidus'! And Riku told me on the other side of the door I'd meet people who'd take me to Sora! Of course!_

"I'm coming with you!"


	10. Seperate Searches

No one said anything for a while. Everyone was waiting for the Fayth to speak. He didn't. Then, without warning, he disappeared. Rikku looked around, searching for the boy-spirit.

"Hey!" Paine shouted, her grip on her sword tightening. There was silence for a moment. All that anyone could hear was the wind, and a few people clearing their throats. It didn't register with any of them that time had started again until a young woman in the crowd spoke.

"Well, I suppose we owe our thanks to all of you." She said quietly. Kairi, Yuna, Rikku, Paine and Tidus all jumped in surprise. The woman didn't seem to notice, nor did anyone else. "On behalf of the citizens of Zanarkand, we offer our thanks." She said, nodding. She turned and disappeared into the crowd, leaving to go home. After she left, the crowd seemed to disperse. The group of five was left standing on the steps of the stadium, completely dumbfounded. They snapped out of it when the voice of the Fayth echoed through the archway. _I cannot take you back. You have to find your own way now._

"What?!" Yuna asked, shocked, spinning to face the arch. There was no one there. Her eyes dropped, and she stared at the marble ground in front of her. "How can we get back alone…?" She asked, her voice betraying her despair. She felt Tidus behind her, his arms winding their way around her.

"It's going to be okay, we'll find a way." He whispered, though his voice, too, told her that he was just as desperate as she was. There was silence for another minute or two, until Kairi stifled a yawn. Paine nodded.

"Kairi's right." Everyone looked at her, confused.

"Me?" Kairi asked, covering another yawn.

"Yes, you. We need to get some sleep. We have to find a way back to Spira tomorrow, and the last thing we need is to not have enough sleep. There's got to be some beds somewhere in this stadium." She started back into the stadium through the arch, the others following her. Yuna sighed, still preoccupied with the matter of getting back. Kairi, who was walking beside her, looked curiously at her.

"Are you okay?" She asked, worried. Yuna shook her head.

"We can't get back to Spira alone, it's hopeless." she confided, frowning. Kairi smiled sadly.

"Never, ever, ever give up hope."

-----------------------------------------------------------

The group stopped when they reached the entrance to the backstage. The backstage door was infront of them. To their left there was two hallways, one angled slightly in front of them one angled slightly behind. To their right, there were two similar hallways.

"Which way do we go now?" Kairi asked, voicing the thought on everyone's minds. Everyone looked at each other, clueless. It was Paine who came up with an idea.

"We'll split up. Rikku, you go that way." Paine pointed to the front-left hallway. "Kairi, you go that way." She pointed to the back-left hallway. "Yuna, you go that way." She pointed to the back-right hallway. "I'll go this way." She pointed to the front-right hallway. "We'll meet back up at the big hole the fiend came out of in…an hour." Tidus cleared his throat. Paine looked at him thoughtfully. "Okay, Tidus you can… well, just go with Yuna." She looked at Yuna, half-smiling. "Don't get distracted, you've got a job to do." With that, she started down her hallway. Giggling, Kairi and Rikku did the same. Yuna blushed, grinning, and took Tidus' hand, starting down their hallway as well.

----------------------------------------------------------

Kairi frowned. _This definitely isn't the right place to be looking for a place to spend the night._ She thought, opening yet another door that led to yet another janitorial/ mechanical room. She'd found the room where they kept all the water pumps, the broadcasting room, the core of the security center, and hundreds of broom closets. _It has to be getting close to an hour that I've been looking. _She decided, turning a corner. She stopped abruptly when she nearly ran into a leather wall. Looking up, she found that it was in fact a very tall, very broad-chested man who was wearing a leather jacket. He frowned down at her.

"What are you doin' 'round here?" He asked in an odd accent. Kairi took a step backwards so she could see him properly, but he stepped toward her again, obviously trying to intimidate her. She stepped back again, but again he stepped toward her. Exasperated, she moved toward him, stepping on one of his feet. He backed up and glared at the small but defiant girl. "Just who do ya think you are?" He asked, glaring at her.

"I'm looking for-." Kairi began, but her cut her off.

"I don't care what yer lookin' for. You're not s'posed to be in here."

"But-."

"Scat, get outta here. Didn't ya see the 'do not enter' sign back there?"

"But-."

"Stop with the 'but's and leave, please and thank you." He spoke with finality. Kairi fought the urge to argue and turned on her heel, walking swiftly back the way she came. _I guess I might as well start looking for the way back to the meeting place._ She thought, taking in her surroundings as she walked down the hall.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Rikku's luck was no better than Kairi's was. She was sitting against the wall, looking to her right for a moment, then to her left. Her hallway split into two, and she'd been sitting there for a surprisingly long time, trying to decide which way to go. She didn't think she was in much of a hurry; she was in the completely wrong area to find a place to sleep anyways. She'd stumbled upon the player's change rooms, a number of rooms with chalk boards and white boards and big projection screens. She imagined that these were where the teams made up plays and such. She'd also found a weight-training room, and a huge number of equipment storage rooms. She really wasn't even thinking about which way she should go anymore. She was letting her mind wander. Then again, letting her mind wander was never a good idea, because she always seemed to think about things that she didn't like to think about. Or rather, she didn't want to decide if she liked or disliked thinking about these things. Either way, her mind was drawn back to reality when she heard a pair of footsteps running on the floor above her. She smiled. _Must be Tidus and Yunie. Wonder if they found anything? I'll find out in an hour. An hour!_ She jumped to her feet.

"Oh no! It's been way over an hour! I'm so late!" She cried, setting off at a sprint back down the hall.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Paine's hallway led her all the way round the stadium. Every door she opened led to some sort of conference room, some more extravagant than others. She found herself in a huge room with a domed roof. It looked almost like a fairy-tale ballroom, with marble floors, lavish furniture and expensive décor. She thought that it must be the room where the staff and players received their personal guests, or where they received celebrities who came to watch the games. There were three doors along the wall to her right and one door on the wall to her left. She opened the three doors first. The closest revealed a large room that was empty except for a few chairs along the walls and a long table against the far wall. The second opened to a room very similar to the first, except that it was full of round tables. The third door opened to a smaller version of the huge reception hall she was in now. She crossed the room and opened the last door, only to find that it opened into the middle of the stadium. Paine shrugged.

"And this concludes my search." she decided, walking over to the hole. She'd only been standing there a minute or two when she heard footsteps approaching her. Looking up, she saw Kairi walking towards her. "Did you find anything?" Paine asked.

"Hundreds of broom closets and a grumpy old man." Kairi replied. Paine almost laughed. Kairi looked around. "Am I late?"

"No, I was early. And so are you. Yuna, Tidus and Rikku won't be back for at least 20 minutes."

"Oh. Okay." Kairi said, sitting down. She let herself fall backwards, her back landing on the ground with a soft thump, and started staring up at the stars. Her eyebrows furrowed in worry when she saw how few there were. "Why are there so few stars? Weren't all the planets revived when the Heartless were all locked away?" She asked. Paine didn't have any idea what she was talking about.

"You can't see all the stars because of the city lights." She answered slowly.

"But, even if the lights weren't there and the sky was completely clear, there wouldn't be anymore stars." Kairi told her, still worried.

"How would you know that? Have you ever seen it without all the lights?" Paine asked disbelievingly.

"No, but I can feel it. After being in the dark so long, I can feel light more acutely than anyone else can. It's the same with emotions. I can tell. There are no other stars up there, no matter how dim." There was silence for a moment.

"Why does it matter so much? So what if there's only a few stars?"

"So what?! How can you say that?!" Kairi asked, sitting up a little. Paine looked confused.

"What's the big deal over how many starts there are?" Paine asked slowly. Kairi relaxed when she realized that Paine didn't understand.

"Each star is a planet. When the Heartless take a planet, a star goes out. A few years ago, planets were falling into darkness so often that it wasn't uncommon for the sky to have only a few stars, despite Sora locking up as many planets as he could. It was only after he locked all the Heartless into Kingdom Hearts that most of the stars were rekindled. The number of stars here…I'm really worried about it. What if the Heartless have escaped?" There was another moment of silence as a still-confused Paine tried to grasp what Kairi was talking about. Her thoughts were interrupted though, as Tidus and Yuna walked toward them.

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Yuna's and Tidus' hall took them up a flight of stairs and into a wide hallway lined with vendor stalls. They met only one person as they walked through the hall in their search; an old janitor. They stopped and asked him if there were any beds and where they could find some, but he either couldn't hear them or chose to ignore them. Everyone else: all the vendors and the buyers and the scalpers were all gone home. The pair came across another flight of stairs. Climbing it, they found themselves on a long balcony that ran all the way around the top of the stadium. It was surprisingly windy, but the view was beautiful. Looking out over the city, Yuna had to ask.

"What's it like?"

"What's what like?" Tidus asked in reply, content to forget about their job for a moment and hold her in his arms. It was something he hadn't done in a long time, and he wouldn't admit, even to himself, just how much he'd missed it. Yuna was happy to snuggle closer to him, taking in the breath-taking view.

"What's it like to live in such a huge city? It must be so exciting."

"It is. But it's lonely."

"Really? You think with so many people, you'd never be alone."

"Not physically alone. There are always people everywhere you go, but it's not like Spira. You don't just happen upon people you know here. And the people aren't the same. People don't smile and wave at you everywhere you go, whether you know them or not, not like they do in Spira." Movement caught his eye and he stopped talking abruptly. Yuna looked up at him, surprised. Looking down into the stadium, he saw two small shapes: one standing at the hole and one walking towards it. "Uhoh, looks like we're late." he said pointing. Yuna looked down.

"That's Paine and Kairi. Come on!" She took his hand and together they ran back down the stairs. Running down the wide hall full of vendor stalls, Yuna had the uncanny feeling that she'd been there before. Tidus, who was not only taller than her but had always been faster than her, was running just faster than she was. They were hand in hand, so he was almost pulling her, and she tripped. Tidus stopped and helped her up. Standing, she didn't move. She knew exactly where that feeling of déjà vu was from now. It was from the dream that she had where she and Tidus had relived the last moments of Lenne and Shuyin. It was exactly the same. She also knew all too well how the dream ended, and she was filled with the irrational fear that the same thing was going to happen to her and Tidus. Glancing quickly behind her, she almost expected to see Yevon guards running towards them. When there were none, she shut her eyes and slowed her breathing, trying to slow her racing heart.

"Yuna? Are you alright?" He asked, worried. His hand on her shoulder seemed her break her terrifying trance. She looked up at him, her expression solemn.

"Let's not run."


	11. The Big Fall

It took only a few minutes for everyone to be gathered back around the yawning hole. There was rubble everywhere, casting long shadows in the sunlight. The fiend had ripped out a huge chunk of the stadium wall, and it looked like more was falling in all the time as little stones and pebbles bounced down the jagged rocky edges of the stadium walls to disappear down into the hole. Rikku was sitting on a particularly large chunk of rubble, Kairi was sitting on the ground nearby and Yuna and Tidus were standing next to Rikku. Rikku and Yuna were telling Tidus of their adventures since he'd gone. Kairi was listening to the story attentively. Paine was standing next to the hole, staring down into it's depths. She thought for a moment that she saw something in the darkness. Watching, it appeared again, and this time in multitudes. There were pyreflies rising out of the hole. Suddenly, she turned towards the group and spoke.

"Do you think this hole leads anywhere?" She asked. Everyone else stared at her blankly for a moment, then Yuna seemed to understand.

"You mean like those ones that led to the Farplane?" She suggested, walking over with Tidus to look down into the darkness, with half hopes of having the depths of the hole reveal themselves to her. Rikku stood up and walked over, too.

"Oh, like those ones in all the temples. And the one that Vegnagun fell into underneath Bevelle." She added, kicking a pebble into the hole and listening to the echoes of it falling down. She didn't hear it hit the bottom.

"You're saying that this hole might lead somewhere?" Kairi asked, peering down into it.

"I'm saying that the Fayth sent the fiend here out of an enormous hole into the ground for a reason. In a word, yes." Paine replied. All eyes were on the darkness in the hole, and no one said anything. It was Kairi who finally spoke.

"Well? What are we waiting for?" Without waiting for anyone to argue, she took and deep breath and jumped.

"Wait!"

"Kairi!"

"No!" Many distressed echoed into the darkness of the hole, from the mouths of Yuna, Tidus, Rikku and Paine as they watched Kairi disappear. Paine sighed.

"Alright then…" she said, jumping in after Kairi. Rikku shrugged at Tidus and Yuna, following Paine. Yuna smiled helplessly at Tidus.

"Looks like we're in for quite a ride." She said quietly. Her smile turned mischievous as she stood on the very edge of the hole. "Coming?" With that, she dropped in after the others. Tidus shrugged and dove head first into the darkness.

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Kairi had her eyes squeezed shut, trying (unsuccessfully) to enjoy the feeling of the wind whistling in her ears and the sensation of flying. Both stopped very suddenly and she opened her eyes slowly. She couldn't tell if she was still falling and had lost the sensations that go along with it or if she'd been snagged on something or if she was dead and this was what the afterlife was like, because it was so dark. She knew she wasn't dead when she saw what she could just make out as being Paine stop in mid air right beside her. Kairi grinned.

"Well, hello." She said, feeling around in the darkness for whatever it was that stopped them. She could see Paine moving a bit.

"Kairi?" She asked, still apparently struggling against whatever it was that was holding both of them. Strangely enough though, Kairi felt like nothing was holding them; it felt like they were simply suspended in midair. Another shape dropped towards them, stopping between Kairi and Paine. It was Rikku.

"Ohhh, what's happening?" She asked, squinting at Kairi and Paine, trying to see who they really were.

"I'm not sure." Paine answered.

"Me neither." Kairi agreed. Rikku sighed, relaxing.

"I wonder if we're dead?" Rikku asked off-handedly.

"I don't think so." Kairi replied as a fourth shape joined them, closely followed by a fifth.

"Hello!" Yuna greeted them cheerfully. The fifth shape seemed to struggle and bit before speaking.

"Am I hanging upside down?" Tidus asked finally, exasperated. Yuna, Kairi and Rikku squinted at his shape in the darkness.

"I think so." Kairi answered after a long silence. She could see slight movement between Tidus and Yuna. Yuna was reaching out to him and touched the sole of his shoe.

"You're upside down alright." She agreed. Tidus struggled a bit more before giving up completely.

"Why?" he asked, seeming a bit annoyed.

"Because you dove head-first into the pit." A sixth voice explained. A flickering light appeared with the Fayth, so everyone could better see each other. Yuna stifled a laugh when she saw Tidus hanging haphazardly upside down. Rikku didn't bother to try to hide her laughter. Kairi had to work to keep from laughing along with them. Paine rolled her eyes, but was smiling too. The Fayth seemed to be the only one with the ability to move among whatever it was that was holding them there. The Fayth grabbed Tidus by the foot and in one swift movement flipped him back right side up. "We wouldn't want you landing on your head, now would we?" He said simply, before disappearing. The light disappeared with him. There was a long moment where nobody spoke.

"…Isn't he supposed to explain what's going on here?" Kairi asked, breaking the silence. She heard a bit of shuffling movement and no one answered. Suddenly, whatever bonds were keeping her still released and she dropped. She almost screamed, but the sudden fall ripped her breath from her throat and she fell silently. Straining to see above her before the group completely disappeared from view, she thought she saw Paine drop, too. None of the others appeared to see what had happened. A few seconds later, she heard Rikku's cry echoing down to her, followed closely by Yuna's gasp and Tidus' yelling 'Hey!' She stopped falling a moment later again, only this time she was sure she'd landed on the ground. It felt like she landed on a sand dune. She didn't land hard, falling into a pile of what felt like sand, which shrunk away, absorbing the fall for her. She sat up, staring blankly into the pitch black. She could hear the sound of water against rocks to her left and to her right she heard a number of soft thumps one after the other; it was the sound of the others landing on the sand.

"Ohh!" Rikku gasped. Kairi couldn't see what was going on, but she could hear the sound of sand grinding on sand. Rikku had landed on a slope and was rolling down. Just able to stop herself, she clung to the loose sand, scrambling back up the hill in the darkness.

"Okay, so where exactly are we?" Paine asked, seeming bored.

"I don't know, but there's something about this place…I don't like it." Yuna said, staring around in the blackness, trying to see the others. Kairi, meanwhile, was trying to keep her mind from flooding with nagging memories that she didn't want to remember. A sudden, bright light shining from her left came as welcome relief from the dark. It startled everyone except Kairi, who had been looking desperately for something to separate her from the darkness. It was the Fayth, once again bringing some form of light. Kairi gasped when she saw how narrowly she'd missed the surprisingly sharp edge of the sand dune. She was inches away, and it was more like a cliff than anything else. If she'd landed even remotely differently, she could have easily gone off the cliff. As far as she could see to her right, there were huge mounds of sand, and to the left there was an enormous body of water, stretching to the horizon. The sound of water that she'd heard was waves crashing against the rocks so far below her. Immediately, she rolled away from it, rolling right into Rikku, who had just managed to get back onto the top of the dune after rolling down it. The pair nearly went tumbling back down the side of the dune, but lucky managed to catch themselves. Once the commotion settled, everyone looked expectantly at the Fayth, who obligingly spoke.

"I see you found your way back. I had hoped I'd made it easy enough for you to find."

"This is the way back?" Yuna asked, rather confused. The Fayth nodded. Yuna looked out at their surroundings. "This isn't any part of Spira that I recognize. Where are we?"

"This is the place between waking and dreaming." The Fayth explained simply.

"So, we're only half way there?" Rikku asked, disheartened.

"In a sense, yes, but you won't have to do anything else now that you're all here." The Fayth said. He looked directly at Kairi. "From here, I can take _all_ of you back to Spira."

"Why the sudden change of heart?" Paine asked. She sounded casual, but Yuna and Rikku both knew that it was a sign that she was angry; she was just very good at hiding it.

"If I'd sent all of you directly to Spira when I first found you, the results could have been disastrous. My powers have been draining. My powers, as you likely know, are directly connected to Macalania Woods. If I'd been able to, I would have brought Tidus back to Spira the moment it could have been possible. However, I had to spend a long while gathering up the energy it would take for me to take you to Zanarkand and then to bring you back again. If all had worked out as I had originally planned, Yuna would have been transported directly to Tidus, found him, and I would have brought both of them back immediately." He looked at Paine and Rikku. "Your insistence in joining Yuna kept me from finding you and drawing you back right away. I had to take a little bit of time to draw up more energy to bring you three girls back and to support Yuna in bringing Tidus back." The Fayth was going to continue, but Rikku interrupted.

"Only support Yunie in bringing him back?" Rikku asked, suspicious. The Fayth nodded.

"Tidus is no longer a part of my dream. He continued his existence as a part of Yuna's memories. I could not bring him back for her; she has to do that herself. I can only help her. As I was saying before, I could not take you directly to Tidus, just as I could not draw the four of you back to Spira any sooner even if you had found him right away. That, in turn, caused you to find Kairi, which caused another problem. If I had at all tried to bring five people back to Spira, I would not have had the power to draw you all the way back. If my energy had drained part way through the journey back, all of the stress would have then been placed on Yuna, and would have undoubtedly killed her." Everyone was quite taken aback. Yuna was slightly pale. Kairi frowned, lowering her eyes.

"I'm sorry, this is all my fault." she said quietly. The Fayth smiled.

"But that's not actually the case, Kairi. All of this happened for a reason, though the reason is one that I cannot see." He said. He smiled again at the surprise on the faces of the four from Spira. "I am not the power that is the be all and end all. There are still laws more ancient than myself. I can see only that Destiny drew you here, though I cannot see why."

"That still doesn't explain why we're here!" Paine complained, standing up.

"You're here because, once Kairi joined you, I knew I would never be able to gather enough power to pull you all directly out of your existence is Zanarkand and take your consciousness back to Spira, so I instead torn the edge of Zanarkand out at the bottom of the hole."

"I'm sorry? You tore the edge of Zanarkand out?" Paine asked.

"Zanarkand is not a world, it is a dream, and it's existence ends once you reach a place that the dreamer had not dreamt up yet. Zanarkand had no existence once you dug far enough into the earth. So I removed the fabric that separated the dream of Zanarkand and the reality of Spira at the bottom of the hole, opening this place, this 'between waking and dreaming'. I couldn't draw you out of the dream, but that in no way meant that you couldn't just fall out of Zanarkand by yourselves."

Kairi, Yuna, Tidus, Rikku and Paine all sat on the dune in silence. They all seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. The Fayth seemed happy to just stand and wait for them to be finished with whatever thoughts they were thinking. Rikku's voice finally cut the silence.

"Okay, so, now what?" She asked, looked at the Fayth lazily.

"Now? Now it's time for your final leg of the journey back to Spira." He said calmly. Paine looked around.

"I don't see how we're going to get anywhere when we don't know where we are or where we're going." She said, disliking the way that the Fayth seemed to speak in riddles.

"I already told you that you're in between waking and dream. I can also tell you where you're going. You're going down." Everyone looked at him, entirely confused. He smiled and disappeared, immersing the rest of them in darkness once again. Kairi sighed.

"I don't like where this is going, do yo-ah!" As she spoke, the sand fell out from underneath her, sending her falling down yet another deep, seemingly endless pit. She heard the cries of the others as they, too, fell. A sudden flash of blinding light made her gasp, holding her eyes shut. It didn't go away, either. Whatever was the source of this light also radiated a warmth against her skin. She hadn't realized how cold it must have been in that between place, but it made her shiver, even now under the beating heat. Where was she? She wanted to know, she wanted to look around, but her eyes still hadn't even remotely adjusted to the sudden glaring light. She heard Rikku shouting above her.

"Look! It's the Celcius!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

That was one huge explanation, but I guess it needed to be explained. More excitement and less talking by little Fayth dude next chappie ;)


	12. Getting back

High above Spira, there was a flash. Then there was another. And another and another and another. Each flash revealed a person, dropping down out of the sky towards the ground far below. Five in a row: Kairi, Paine, Rikku, Yuna and Tidus. A few moments later, Kairi landed on the deck, dropping to her hands and knees. She stood up, brushing herself off as Paine landed a few feet away, followed closely by Rikku, who nearly landed on top of Kairi. Yuna landed a moment later. Tidus managed to be somehow falling head first once again, landing badly. He sat up, grimacing, as Yuna put her hand to her head.

"Oh no, not again…" she murmured, stumbling backwards. Kairi, Rikku and Paine all stepped forward to catch her, but Tidus was on his feet behind her as she collapsed, so she fell directly into his arms. Tidus sat down, cradling her in his lap, calling to her quietly.

"Yuna?" When she didn't react, he frowned, worried and feeling helpless. "Yuna!" His voice was louder this time, and he shook her gently. She murmured something incomprehensible and snuggled closer to him. Rikku sat down next to Tidus.

"What's wrong with Yunie?" She asked. Tidus looked at her, at a loss for words.

"She's asleep." a voice told them. Looking for the source of the voice, they saw the Fayth.

"Wonderful. You grace us with your almighty presence once again." Paine said, looking unimpressed. The Fayth ignored her, speaking instead to Tidus.

"As I said before, Yuna and Yuna alone could bring you back." He paused, hearing a faint yell.

"What was that?" Tidus asked, bewildered.

"Sounded like Brother." Rikku observed. Paine rolled her eyes.

"Great. What is it this time?" She asked coldly (my, my, Paine's in quite a mood, isn't she?). The Fayth smiled slightly.

"Last night, after the three of you so suddenly fell asleep on the bridge, Brother, Buddy and Shinra took you to the cabin beds. You're not exactly in the cabin anymore, are you? As to why Yuna's asleep…" he looked at Tidus again. "She alone brought you back, and the task exhausted her. She'll wake up soon enough." With nothing more to say, he disappeared. Rikku frowned.

"What is with that guy?" Paine nudged her.

"We'd better go explain ourselves." She said, leading Rikku inside. At the door, she turned back to Tidus. "Take Yuna to the cabin. Barkeep should be more than willing to give you a hand." She glanced at Kairi, thinking, then beckoned for her to follow. "It's about time you met the Gullwing crew." She said, stepping into the elevator as Kairi ran over and disappeared into the elevator compartment with the other two. Tidus was left alone on the deck of the ship, still holding the sleeping Yuna. It was the first chance he got to take a good look at his surroundings.

"This ship's one great big machina. Man, things really have changed…"

-

Tidus stepped into the cabin, taking in his surroundings. _This ship is amazing…_he thought. It took him a moment to notice the Hypello standing behind the bar, watching him suspiciously. Tidus started over to him. Once the creature noticed he was carrying Yuna, he scrambled out from behind the bar, running over to where Tidus stood.

"Oh dearsh, whatsh happeneded to Mish Yoona?" he asked. Tidus couldn't help but smile.

"She'll be alright, I just need to get her somewhere for her to sleep."

"Okaysh! Pleesh folloo me!" The Hypello led him up the stairs and prepared a bed for Yuna. Tidus laid her down gently, then sighed, sitting on the bed next to her. _She's heavier than she looks. _He thought, stretching out his arms. The Hypello looked at him.

"Are yoo alright shir? I can getsh yoo a glash of water if yoo'd like." He offered. Tidus nodded.

"That would be great, actually. Are you Barkeep?"

"I am shir. And whoo mightsh yoo be?" He asked, leaping down the stairs. Tidus looked over the railing as Barkeep prepared two glasses of water.

"My name's Tidus." He called, sitting back down. The hypello returned with the glasses, setting one on the table next to the bed for Yuna, and handing one to Tidus, who drank his all in one go.

"Ish there anything elsh yoo might be needingsh?" Tidus shook his head, and Barkeep bounded back downstairs. Tidus let his mind wander as he watched Yuna sleep. He came to reflect on how lucky he was. Three times he was sure he was dead, and three times he'd lived, not to mention the fact that he found his soulmate, lost her and, even after two years of separation, she came to find him again. A quiet yawn brought him back to reality. He looked at Yuna, who was stretching and smiling sleepily at him.

"I must be dreaming…"she murmured.

"Why do you say that?" Tidus asked, smiling slightly.

"I dreamt I went to Zanarkand to get you." She started, pausing to yawn again. Tidus would have argued, but she really had been dreaming when she'd been in Zanarkand. "Now I'm here and you're here and it's all too good to be true."

"It _is_ true though, Yuna." Tidus replied, running his fingers through her hair. She sighed, smiling sadly.

"I wish I could believe you…" she whispered. Tidus thought a moment, then smiled knowingly.

"You know, you can't physically feel anything in a dream…" With that, he kissed her, gently, lovingly and deliberately. Yuna tensed for a moment, then relaxed completely, letting Tidus' lips explore hers. When he finally pulled away, Yuna's lips were tingling and almost numb. She touched her fingers to her lips, her eyes still closed. Tidus' smile widened.

"Did you feel that?" he asked quietly. She nodded and opened her eyes. "Now do you believe me?" he asked, his voice still barely above a whisper. Yuna sat up, smiling innocently.

"Maybe." she said casually. Tidus raised his eyebrows.

"Maybe? Why only maybe?" He wanted to know, curious about the mischievous glint in her eyes. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself into his lap and smiling shyly.

"I'll believe you if you kiss me again." she whispered. Tidus laughed softly.

"Gladly."

-

Hurrah! Finally, I got some REAL fluff going on! I know this chappie's rather short, but it's lots of short chappies very often, or fewer long chappies not very often at all, so, I figured that plan A would be a little better, hm? I really quite like where this fic is going, and I'm excited! YAY FOR FICS! ahem R+R please!


	13. The Brother Problem

Stepping out of the elevator, Kairi, Rikku and Paine decided that Kairi should wait in the hallway until the other two explained themselves a bit. Rikku and Paine walked onto the deck of the Celcius just as Shinra said something very out of character.

"I just can't figure it out…" At this, Brother began to rant in Al Bhed. He was so upset that not even Rikku could understand a word he was saying. Buddy was sitting on the steps while Brother paced and ranted. Shinra was sitting where he always sat: in front of his computer. Rikku nudged Buddy with her foot, and he turned around. Seeing the girls, he stood up so fast he nearly fell over again. Brother and Shinra looked up as well. Buddy eyed them suspiciously.

"What have you got to say for yourselves?" He asked finally, trying to seem angry but sounding more curious than anything else. Before either of them could answer, Brother shouted.

"Hey! Where is Yuna?" he asked loudly, noticing that the third Gullwing girl was missing. Buddy nodded.

"Yeh, where is Yuna anyway?" he asked. All three guys looked at Paine and Rikku expectantly. Paine shrugged.

"She's sleeping." she answered lazily.

"…with Tidus." Rikku added, giggling uncontrollably. Paine rolled her eyes and Brother lost it.

"WHAT! Fryd yna oui tymgehk ypuid? Fru ec Yuna cmaabehk fedr! E'MM GEMM RES!" what! what are you talking about? who is yuna sleeping with! i'll kill him! He yelled, lunging towards the steps. Rikku launched herself at him, knocking him backwards. Scrambling back up, Brother pushed past the others, racing for the hall to the elevator. Rikku sat up.

"Kairi! Stop him!" She yelled, standing up. Paine had started after him but she was just a few seconds to late on her start. Brother was through the doorway and running down the hall toward the elevator when there was a strange snapping sound and something caught Brother's pants. Before he knew what was happening, his left foot was stuck to the wall and the momentum had tripped him, so he was lying on his stomach on the floor. He looked first at his foot. There was a round metal disk that had caught his pant leg and had embedded in the wall. He tried to pull it out, but the sharp edges kept him from managing it. Instead, he started to pull on the cloth that was pinned to the wall. The cloth was thick denim, and was proving hard to rip. He growled. He was stuck. He looked up at Kairi, glaring at her.

"Who are you? What do you think you are doing? Get off my ship!" He ordered savagely. Kairi looked startled.

"I just…well Rikku told me to stop you, so…" she stuttered, detaching the disk from the wall with her claws. Once again, the Al Bhed man tried to scramble up and get to the elevator, but this time, Paine was in the way. Brother glared at her.

"E'mm gemm res!" i'll kill him! He repeated, still raging. Paine calmly stood in his way, her voice deadly quiet.

"Oui'na hud kuehk du gemm yhouha." you're not going to kill anyone. she told him. Brother fell silent, looking helpless. The silence was heavy, so Rikku decided to break it. She slung her arm around Brother's shoulders and swung him around to face Kairi.

"So I see you've met the newest addition to the Gullwings! This is Kairi!" She said cheerily. She grabbed Kairi's wrist and pulled her onto the bridge, getting over-excited. "That was Brother. He's my brother. This is Buddy, our navigator and this is Shinra, our resident boy genius!" She spoke very quickly. Kairi grinned, waving at them. Buddy smiled at her and Shinra nodded. Brother was, once again, furious.

"New Gullwing? _I _am leader! _I_ choose who joins the Gullwings! And I say no, no, no, no, NO!" He bellowed, strutting back onto the bridge. Rikku sighed.

"At least he forgot about killing Tidus." she murmured to Kairi, who hid a smile. However, apparently Brother's hearing was better than they thought it was, because he instantly turned his rage back to Tidus. He turned on his heel and started back toward the elevator, but this time, Rikku was ready. She ran up behind him and grabbed his shoulder. He was pulled to a stop, and he glared at his little sister. Rikku rolled her eyes.

"Oh, get over it already. I was kidding anyways. Yunie's sleep and Tidus is looking after her." She explained, dragging Brother back onto the middle of the bridge. He was still fuming, but didn't make a run for the elevator at least. He started to grumble, and Paine sighed.

"This is going to be a long day."

-

Tidus stifled a yawn, still cradling Yuna in his lap. She smiled up at him.

"Tired?" she asked, snuggling closer and yawning as well. "I'm still a bit drowsy too." she admitted. Tidus kissed her forehead.

"I guess I'm a bit tired, but the Fayth said that the journey back to Spira exhausted you. You need more rest than I do." As he spoke, he lifted her off of him and onto the bed, and started to stand up. Yuna grabbed his arm.

"You need sleep too." She insisted.

"I don't mind" he told her, though his eyes drooped and he was blinking tiredly. Yuna shook her head, smiling.

"You need sleep." She repeated resolutely.

-

It took Paine, Rikku and Kairi a long time to explain what had happened to them, and to explain it in such a way that would keep Brother from starting to rant like a lunatic again. Once they were convinced that Brother would try to murder Tidus the moment they let him into the cabin, they agreed to take the three Al Bhed guys to see Yuna and Tidus. They walked into the cabin, and Rikku was over-excited again, for no reason at all. She skipped ahead and ran up the stairs.

"Yu!" Once she reached the top of the stairs, she stopped dead. Regaining her senses a moment later, she skipped back down the stairs, grinning. She grabbed Brother's arm and started back toward the elevator. Brother pulled out of her grasp and glared at her suspiciously.

"Rikku! What are you doing?"

"They're asleep, we should come back later." She replied quickly. Brother's rage flared once again.

"RIKKU! You told me they were not sleeping together!" He shouted. Rikku cringed, shrinking away from him. She laughed nervously.

"Uhhh…they weren't before…?" She squeaked in reply. Brother was about to set off running toward the stairs but stopped when he heard Yuna's voice.

"What are you guys doing?" She asked, looking down at them. She was standing, leaning on the railing, smiling amusedly. Tidus came into view a moment later, walking up behind her.

"Good morning everybody." He said, looking slightly confused. Rikku grinned, jumping up and down.

"Hey Tidus! These are the rest of the Gullwings! That's Brother and that's Buddy and that's Shinra!" She called, laughing. Tidus scratched his head.

"That's great. What are the Gullwings?" He asked. Brother looked shocked.

"You do not know the Gullwings?" He asked. Tidus shook his head. Brother brought himself up to full height. "We are the greatest sphere hunters in all of Spira!" He announced. Tidus still looked confused.

"That's cool, but what are sphere hunters?" He asked. Brother almost fell over.

"You do not know what sphere hunters are? What, have you been living under a rock for the last two years?"

"No, but I've been living in a dream." Tidus replied smugly. Brother frowned.

"Yes, yes, Rikku told me." He muttered, looking rather confused. Shinra sighed.

"Now if we're all quite finished there's a commsphere I have to be fixing in Besaid." At that, everyone slowly wandered back to the bridge. As they were walking down the stairs, Tidus nudged Yuna.

"Exactly what is a sphere hunter?" He asked. Yuna smiled.

"We hunt spheres." She explained simply. Tidus frowned.

"I gathered that." He replied. Yuna grinned.

"There are four more famous sphere hunting groups, and three of those are the largest in Spira. The bigger ones are the Youth League, New Yevon and the LeBlanc Syndicate. There's the Machine Faction, but they're not really sphere hunters. The other famous group is…well…this one. Everyone got really interested in the Gullwings after Paine and I joined, just because, well, first of all because of who I am, and second, there were a couple of rumors floating around about Paine. Sphere hunters are usually people looking for adventure and wanting to learn more about Spira's past."

-

Woohoo! Next chappie: Sora stuff! Should be cool! Please please R+R. I'm not writing just to get reviews, but reviews definitely encourage a faster update! Thankies kindly!


	14. Crashing Hover

It didn't take very long for the Celcius to reach Besaid. Kairi, Rikku, Paine, Yuna and Tidus were all walking together. Buddy and Shinra were walking a little ways behind and Brother was staying on the ship. Yuna laughed.

"I can't wait to see the look on Wakka and Lulu's faces when they see you" She said, smiling at Tidus. He smiled, looking thoughtful.

"Have they changed much?" He asked. Rikku giggled.

"Wakka's a daddy!" She said, giggling.

"No way! Really?" Tidus asked, surprised. Yuna nodded.

"Wakka and Lulu had a baby not that long ago, actually."

"He sooooo cute" Rikku said, skipping ahead. Kairi and Paine picked up their pace to keep up with the hyper Al Bhed girl, leaving Tidus and Yuna behind a little ways. Rikku settled down a bit, just enough that she could walk with Paine and Kairi. Kairi glanced back as the ship disappeared as they left the beach.

"That's an amazing ship." She observed. Rikku snorted.

"Don't tell Brother that. It'll boost his already too big ego." She warned. Kairi shrugged.

"I've never seen a ship that big. Sora's gummiship is so much smaller. It's good to get him around the Kingdom, I guess, but I can only imagine how many more world you guys could go to in that."

"Excuse me? We use the Celcius to get around Spira. What's this about other worlds?" Rikku asked, curious. Kairi looked dumbfounded.

"What? You mean you don't go to other worlds? That enormous ship is just for flying around this world? You've got to be kidding me!" She stared at Rikku, who stared back at her.

"I didn't even think of going to other worlds." Rikku admitted. "We can talk to Shinra about it though. Maybe we can go to other worlds and we just didn't bother." She suggested. Kairi shrugged and they came up to the village. There were people around, minding their own business, but a tall man with red-orange hair standing just outside one of the huts stood out among everyone else. Rikku giggled and waved.

"Hey Wakka!" She called, running over.

"Rikku! Hey, what brings you here?" He asked, grinning.

"Broken commsphere. How ya been, tubby?"

"Hey, I thought I told you to stop calling me that, ya?" He said, seeming a little embarrassed. Rikku giggled again.

"Where's Lulu?" She asked. Wakka didn't even have to answer. Rikku was already wandering into the hut where Lulu was. Looking around, he spotted Paine and Kairi next.

"Hey Paine! And who's this?" He asked, walking over to the pair of them as they approached. Kairi smiled, waving.

"Hi! I'm Kairi!" She said. Wakka smiled at her.

"And where're you from, hm?" he asked offhandedly. Kairi frowned a bit.

"I'm, uh… I'm from the Destiny Islands. You probably haven't heard of them." She replied quietly. Wakka furrowed his eyebrows.

"Nope, I can't say I have…"

-

Sora, Donald and Goofy wandered the huge city aimlessly, having absolutely no idea where they were going. They were simply exploring, now. They found their way to the beginning of the Highroad. Standing at the bottom of the stairs, they were wondering where to go.

"So, do we stay and explore the city some more, or do we check out this path up the stairs?" Sora asked. Donald shrugged.

"We don't have any gil and we aren't finding any here. Maybe we'll be able to get some there." He suggested. Sora frowned.

"Where would we get money if we were on a road like that?" He asked. Goofy thought a moment.

"Maybe we can get some from the Heartless?" He said thoughtfully. Sora looked confused.

"There are no more Heartless, Goofy..." He replied. Goofy frowned.

"Well, we didn't lock up this planet though, did we?" he asked.

"No, we didn't...I dunno. Let's go see. Even if we don't find anything on the road, the road's got to lead somewhere, right?" Sora said, starting up the stairs. Donald and Goofy followed. Even before the Highroad came into full view, they heard a strange roaring and a couple raised voices. They picked up pace and started running up the stairs. When they reached the top, they saw a strange looking machine (a hover) collapsing to the ground as a handful of wolf-like creatures and a number of strange looking blobs attacked it. There were three people riding the machine; a blonde man with an eyepatch, a blonde woman and a little boy. All three of them tumbled off the machine as it collided with the ground. The man rolled to him feet, getting between the creature and the two other passengers. There were two other men standing on the ground already; a silver-haired one and a tall man with graying hair. Both of them ran at the creatures and began to attack. They cut down all the lupins in moments. Sora, Donald and Goofy ran to join them. The three men turned on the strange looking blobs (flans) now. Sora saw that the fallen lupins were fading away. As he approached, he also noticed that one of them wasn't fading. A moment later, it lurched to its feet. Once it regained its senses, it tensed, ready to pounce on the silver haired man. The blonde man who'd been on the hover saw it a moment too late.

"Baralai!" He shouted, pointing his gun at the creature. Baralai spun on time to see the lupin launch itself at him. He had no time to react; all he could do was brace himself for the attack. It never came. Sora cut his Keyblade into the lupin, knocking it to the ground. Donald took down the last flans with a couple of spells. The three men looked quite surprised. Bararlai smiled.

"I guess I owe you some thanks." He said, poking the fading lupin body with his staff. Sora grinned, slinging his Keyblade over his shoulder.

"No problem. I'm Sora."

"Baralai"

"Nooj"

"Gippal. I've never seen you 'round here before. Where ya from?" The blonde man asked. Sora shrugged.

"I'm from the Destiny Islands. Not from around here." He answered. Baralai sighed.

"Destiny Islands? No, I can't say I've heard of it." He said slowly. Nooj shook his head.

"Neither have I." He agreed. "Where are these Islands?" he asked.

"They're near the Kingdom." Sora replied simply.

"The which?" Gippal asked, looking confused.

"The Kingdom?" Sora said. "You know, Traverse Town, Atlantica, Hollow Bastion…" He listed. The others looked confused.

"No, I can't say I've ever heard of it…" Baralai repeated. Sora stared at them in surprise.

"Alright, well, whatever." He said finally, shrugging. Gippal looked at Baralai and Nooj.

"So, we heading to Bikanel?" He asked. The other two nodded. As an after thought, he glanced at Sora and his companions. "You three want to come?"

"Sure."


	15. The Fellowship is broken

Wakka was in the act of inviting Kairi and Paine inside to see Lulu when a blitzball whizzed by his head at speeds he had barely even imagined. For a split second, it reminded him of the time he'd first met Tidus. He could remember practicing on the beach, and accidentally hitting this random person who seemed to have just appeared in the ocean. The random person, who turned out to be Tidus, had kicked the ball back at him, narrowly missing his head and seriously impressing him. He hadn't realized that he's stopped speaking in midsentence. Paine and Kairi were looking at him with expressions of confusion. He snapped back to reality when he heard someone calling to him in a voice he swore he recognized. He looked pasted Kairi and Paine and his jaw dropped.

"No way, man! But this is impossible, ya?" He said, staring opening as Yuna walked toward him, hand in hand with none other than Tidus himself. Tidus grinned.

"_Almost_ impossible." He corrected, greeting his old friend and teammate. Wakka started to laugh. Kairi turned and grinned at the approaching couple and then laughed at the look on Wakka's face. Rikku came out of one of the huts, followed closely by a woman whom Kairi didn't recognize. As the woman walked out of the hut, she called to Wakka.

"What's all this fuss, Wakka?" She asked expectantly. Wakka spun.

"Lu! You're never going to believe this!" Wakka shouted, overly excited. Lulu looked entirely bewildered at Wakka's behaviour.

"Believe what…?" She asked. Wakka grabbed her free arm (the other was cradling a baby) and gently pulled her forward. As soon as she saw Tidus, she gasped. She opened her mouth to say something, paused, then shut it again, having nothing to say. Tidus grinned at her.

"Hey Lulu! How've you been?" He asked, waving and slightly overwhelmed. Lulu smirked.

"Pregnant." She replied bluntly. Wakka started to laugh again. All the laughter reminded Yuna of her pilgrimage, and yet, it was very different and in a very good way.

-

Gippal, Baralai, Nooj, Sora, Donald and Goofy all walked through Luca. Nhadala had just contacted them and told them that she wasn't ready to have them land in Bikanel for another long while. She said she'd contact them when they should start heading over, so Gippal, Baralai and Nooj had decided to show the other three around. As they approached the blitzball stadium, Gippal shaded his eyes and looked up to the top of the building.

"Ever played blitzball, Sora?"

"What-ball?" Sora asked, glancing at Goofy and Donald. Both of them looked just as confused as he felt. All Gippal, Baralai and Nooj looked incredulous.

"You've _never_ heard of blitzball?" Baralai asked. Sora shook his head. Gippla threw up his hands.

"Where have you guys been for the past two thousand years!" He asked disbelievingly. Sora looked at him.

"Two thousand years? This planet has lasted two _thousand_ years!"

"We've had our fair share of troubles, but we've lasted." Nooj replied. Sora still didn't believe it. A beeping caught his attention and he forgot his surprise. Baralai answered Nhadala's call.

"Baralai."

"We're about ready for you guys to land, so you can starting heading to you ship any time now." A woman's voice replied, layered with static. There was another beep as the transmission ended. Gippal nodded.

"Let's go."

"Why in such a hurry?" Nooj asked. Gippal shrugged.

"We don't have anything else to do here, do we?" The Al Bhed asked in reply. Nooj nodded and followed Gippal. Sora and Baralai went next. Donald and Goofy didn't follow. Sora glanced back at them.

"Come on!"

"We can't!" Goofy replied. Sora looked curiously at them. Donald looked apologetic.

"King Mickey has called us back to the castle." The duck explained. Sora shrugged, stopping. Baralai stopped too, wondering what was going on.

"So, I guess we'll just have to come back to this world later. I'll be two seconds, I just have to tell the others what's up." Sora said simply Donald shook his head.

"The King said you were supposed to stay here." He said quietly. Sora looked even more confused now. Goofy frowned.

"We got our orders last night. King Mickey said that we were supposed to look for a bunch of people, and that once we found some of them, the rest would meet up later."

"Some of the names he gave us were Gippal and Baralai and Nooj" Donald interjected. Goofy continued.

"The King said that once we were sure that you were gonna stick with them, we were supposed to fly back to the castle." He explained. It was strange hearing Goofy explain things. Sora looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I guess whatever Mickey says goes. Just don't leave me on this planet here forever, got it?" He replied, sounding surprisingly good natured about it. Donald and Goofy smiled.

"See ya Sora!"

"Bye!"

"See you guys later!" Sora called, walking up to Baralai.

"What was that about?"

"Goofy and Donald are leaving. The king's ordered them back to the castle."

"The king?"

"The king of the Kingdom."

"Where is this 'kingdom' anyway?"

"Ummm, about three hours from here by our gummiship. Then again, ours goes just a little bit faster thanan average gummiship."

"Your what?"

"Our gummiship? I though Gippal said we were going to the ship?"

"He did, but it's definitely an airship, not a gummiship or whatever you called it." Baralai said as they caught up to the other two. The ship came into view and Sora's jaw dropped.

"_That's _your ship? I've never seen one so big!"

"That's right!" Gippal bragged. "Pride of the Djose!"

"He doesn't like to admit it, but the Celcius rivals his ship in size." Baralai muttered. Sora grinned as they boarded. Just as they began to lift off, Baralai noticed something flashing on the control board.

"Hey, we're getting a distress signal." He announced. Nooj and Gippal glanced at him, signaling for him to go on. "It's from…The Temple of Vevon-Baaj…" He said, looking confused. Nooj looked at him.

"The submerged ruins? You sure?"

"Very. Hey, the signal is signed! It's the LeBlanc Syndicate!" Baralai said, studying the screen further. Nooj frowned.

"That's not a good thing."

"Even weirder, it looks like it's only being transmitted to a couple of ships." Baralai said, hitting a couple of buttons. "Us and the Gullwings." He looked at the others. Nooj looked at a loss. Gippal wasn't paying much attention; he just wanted to get the action. Sora looked at Baralai, at the screen and then back at Baralai.

"Is it just me or does that sound like a trap?"

-

Dun dun dun! Read and review and wait and see:D You guys should be so excited for the next chappie because I've been waiting to write this chapter ever since I started the story :P Well, like I said, R+R and tata til next chappie!


	16. The Predicament of LeBlanc

The group in Besaid were all standing together, talking excitedly. Lulu and Wakka were shocked at Tidus' arrival. However, the visit was cut short when the Gullwings recieved a call from Brother.

"Gullwings! To the Celcius!" He said, the static cutting his voice. Paine frowned.

"Why?"

"We are getting a distress call!" Brother replied. Buddy smiled.

"Looks like your friendly neighbourhood Gullwings are back in business!" He said, starting back toward the beach. Shinra, finishing up his repairs, started after him. Yuna grinned and followed.

"We'll be back soon to have a longer visit!" She called to Wakka and Lulu, waving. Rikku ran after Yuna, Paine following and Kairi wasn't far behind. Smiling, Lulu sighed and waved at them as they disappeared out of the village. Arriving back at the ship, Buddy took a look at the location of the distress call. He studied it in suprise.

"Vevon-Baaj?" He said quietly. Paine glanced at him.

"The temple?" She asked. Buddy nodded. Tidus frowned.

"That's the temple that you found me at, wasn't it, Rikku?"

"Ummm...I think." She replied.

"Wait a moment." Shinra called, making everyone stop. "The signal's only being sent to a few specific ships. It's got trap written all over it, and whoever pulled this one off isn't the most experienced of people."

"Who else is getting the signal?" Yuna asked.

"It's being sent to us and...Gippal's ship. It's...a signed signal! The LeBlanc Syndicate?" Shinra said, studying his computer screen. Rikku frowned.

"You think Nooj and Baralai would be with Gippal?" She asked. Yuna shrugged.

"Probably." She smiled. "Let's go take a look. We can teach our little pranksters a lesson!" She suggested, grinning. Tidus looked surprised.

"Excuse me?" He asked, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her toward him, smiling warmly. She looked at him curiously, touching her nose to his.

"What?" She asked quietly. He shrugged.

"You've changed so much." He replied, just as quiet. Yuna's smile widened, her cheeks going a little bit pink.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, I just wish I'd been here to see it." He replied, smiling back at her. He touched his lips to hers for a moment. Paine interrupted them.

"Well, this is just lovely, but I do believe that the issue at hand is the distress call?" She said. Rikku, Kairi and Buddy tried to hide their laughter and Brother was turning red with anger. Yuna and Tidus both turned red. Still chuckling, Buddy spoke.

"So? We going?" He asked. Yuna nodded.

"Might as well." Paine agreed, smiling.

-

The Gullwings arrived, landed, and all stood looking somewhat lost next to the ruins. Paine looked around, squinting into the gathering mist.

"Doesn't look like Baralai and the others are here yet." She observed. Rikku tried to look through the fog, too. After a moment, she looked at Paine and shrugged in agreement. Kairi was studying the ruins.

"Okay, so how do we get inside?" She asked, wandering toward the water's edge. Looking down, she gasped and stumbled back. Frowning, she kicked a stone. Everyone else was watching her with surprise. Yuna finally spoke, breaking the silence.

"Kairi? What's wrong?" Kairi looked up, alarmed.

"Uhh, I saw a fish." She replied, her voice quiet. Paine and Rikku eyed her suspiciously, while Yuna leaned over to look into the water. She glanced at Kairi, about to say that there were no fish, but suddenly thought better of it. Tidus seemed confused and decided that as long as he was stuck with all girls, he would never be in the know. Kairi looked like she didn't want to talk about it. There was the sound of yelling coming from inside the temple, and right away all of them looked at the wall of solid stone that block their entrance. Without much more thought, Tidus dove into the water. Yuna spun, watching him disappear off the edge. She started to panic, the scene reminding her all too much of the last time he left her. Instantly, she ran after him, disappearing into the dark water only a moment after him. Paine followed quickly, diving carefully to make sure that she wouldn't hit either Yuna or Tidus, both of whom were still invisible in the darkness of the water. Giggling, Rikku cannon-balled in afterwards. Kairi approached the edge, afraid to look down onto her reflection again. She swallowed and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. _I was just imagining things. It was my eyes playing tricks on me._ Then, she chuckled in spite of herself. _My eyes playing tricks on me indeed._ The irony didn't escape her, as it was the appearance of her eyes in the reflection that had startled her so. Tidus and Yuna broke the surface of the water, and saw Kairi still standing on the rocky ground. Yuna smiled up at her.

"Come on!" She called, waving. Tidus kicked off gently and let himself float away from the edge on his back. Rikku and Paine broke the surface a second later.

"I know the way in! Follow me!" He called. Rikku and Paine started to swim towards him as he dove back underneath the surface. Yuna shot a last worried glance at Kairi before following. Kairi gasped. _No! They can't leave without me!_ She thought, biting her lip. Taking a last deep breath, she ran for the edge, squeezed her eyes shut in a desperate attempt to avoid seeing her reflection, and jumped.

-

Gasping for breath, Rikku and Paine trudged out of the water, following a very calm looking Tidus.

"Hey, you guys okay?" He asked, obviously teasing them. Rikku stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well I'm soooorry Mr. I'm A Blitzball Player So I Can Hold My Breath For Longer Than You Can." She retorted. Yuna appeared from out of the depth of the water, spouted a mouthful of water out at the three standing on the rocky steps and grinned. Kairi floated to the surface a second afterwards, kicking gently as she relaxed on her back, making her way slowly to the steps. She knew that the water here was shallow enough that her reflection would be practically invisible. This was how the water was that she used to so often swim on the Destiny Islands. Shallow, and reflectionless. She'd never realized how thankful she should have been for that until now. Muffled yelling from within drew everyone's attention. Yuna frowned.

"Sounds like LeBlanc. I think she really is in trouble!" She said, holding her guns out in front of her as she approached the doorway. Tidus gripped his Brotherhood and followed. Rikku and Paine tossed their weapons into the air, as if to get the feel of them, and caught them gracefully, following Tidus and Yuna. Kairi gave her claws a quick inspection, and ran up to the others. Grabbing Tidus' sleeve, she stopped Yuna, Rikku and Paine as well. They all looked at her curiously.

"If it's a trap, they're out to catch the three of you." She said to Yuna, Rikku and Paine. She paused, waiting for them to understand before she continued. "Me and Tidus should stay here. If it really is a trap, then whoever it is would trap you, but we'll still be out here, and they won't be prepared for two more people hiding in the hallway." She explained. Rikku stared at her in wonder for a moment, the grinned.

"Wow, that's smart! Alright Gullwings! Let's go!" She spoke in an excited whisper, itching to keep going. Yuna tried to keep from laughing, beckoning Paine and Rikku to follow her into the main hall. Stepping through the doors, she chanced a quick glance back into the shadows behind the doors where Kairi and Tidus were hidden. Looking out in front of her, she gasped. LeBlanc was sitting helplessly on the cold stone floor, her hands and feet bound and her mouth gagged. Rikku squeaked and Paine stared, her face showing horror for a moment, which quickly passed and was replaced with angry surprise. There was silence, broken moments later by Paine.

"What the hell…?" Her voice was only a whisper, but it was loud enough that LeBlanc heard the noise and turned. She didn't look afraid, despite her current predicament. She did look, however, _extremely_ angry.


	17. And the brawl shall begin

"Well, well, well. Looks like the Dullwings fell right into our trap." A familiar voice chortled from somewhere else in the room. The girls' view of the hall was blocked off by a pair of piles of rubble on each side of the doorway, but they were cautious to check and see whoever it was. Getting a full view of the room meant leaving their cover. It was be blind or be vulnerable. Another voice followed the first, again, very familiar.

"Indeed. And unlike all the other times before, this time we've got you outnumbered." The second voice gloated. An instant later, it was Rikku who figured out who the voices belonged to and when she did, she almost laughed aloud.

"Logos and Ormi?" She called, skipping out into the open. Leaving herself vulnerable was no longer a problem. After the number of times she'd fought these clowns and won all of those fights in overwhelming victories, the pair didn't intimidate her a bit. Relaxed, Yuna and Paine followed Rikku out. Logos and Ormi were approaching the center where Leblanc sat, each from opposite sides of the room. To the Gullwings now, this was just a fun new training exercise. Paine walked up to Leblanc.

"How did you ever manage to get yourself kidnapped by those two?" She asked, cutting off the gag. Leblanc glared at her.

"I trusted them and they betrayed my trust. Surely you of all people would know how easily one can fall into that trap." The blonde replied indignantly. Paine's eyes hardened for a moment, but found she couldn't deny it. She did know what that was like. Yuna and Rikku were approaching Paine, each of them watching one of the two men. Yuna sighed, looking around. The room was empty except for the six of them, plus the two others waiting in the corridor. She met eyes with Logos, daring him to try and escape.

"Now," She said, almost triumphantly, "what's this about you outnumbering us?" She asked, holding her guns up in his open view. Logos smirked and signaled. Three bandits immerged from the shadows. Brandishing his own guns, Logos stared right back at Yuna, his eyes just as daring.

"I do believe that we now outnumber you." He announced. Ormi nodded.

"Yeh, even if Leblanc decides to give you a helping hand, we still outnumber you, though Leblanc wouldn't be much help to you in a fight anyways."

"Any chance to make these traitors pay is the chance of a lifetime, and believe me, I'll _make_ you pay." Leblanc retorted, standing up. Paine shrugged.

"Besides, the two of you, with your skills, really only count for one, so I guess we're even." She said lazily. Ormi glared at her. She smirked, matching his gaze with a look that said _And what are you gonna do about it?_ Ormi was furious. In a show of surprising speed, her whipped his shield up over his head and sent it spinning in a deadly disk towards Paine. The warrior didn't have any time to react and she knew it. However, to the amazement of everyone in the room, there was the crunching sound of metal hitting and breaking metal, and the shield veered suddenly off course. Its perfect spin slowed and wobbled before it hit the floor with a clank. When they saw the shield, the Gullwings grinned and Ormi looked horrified. A smaller but harder and sharper disk had hit it and drove itself right into the center of the shield. Most of the metal was shredded and entangled, both weapons fused together and rendered useless. All three of the Gullwings knew exactly what had happened: Kairi. The sound of footsteps caused Ormi to turn toward the doorway (which he was the closest person in the room to). Kairi was walking toward the group, looking more like a tourist than a spherehunter. Her hands held neatly behind her as she walked slowly forward, apparently engrossed in the history of the temple as she looked around, innocent amazement written all over her face. For a moment, it looked like Kairi's façade would work as Ormi faltered. However, he recovered quickly and glared at her.

"You ruined my shield, and now you're going to pay." He growled. Paine started towards them, but Yuna grabbed her arm. The ex-summoner saw the glint in Kairi's eye. The girl most certainly had something up her sleeve. Kairi looked at Ormi, her face still masked with feigned innocence.

"I'm sorry?"

"Don't play stupid." Ormi ordered. Kairi's expression changed immediately.

"You know, it wouldn't serve you to take me as stupid." She replied simply. Ormi glared at her.

"I have every reason to. That stunt left you without a weapon." He replied. Kairi smiled, still unfazed.

"And as far as I can see, you don't have any weapons either." She replied. Ormi was getting frustrated. The girl wasn't getting mad, or scared or even the slightest bit intimidated. She wasn't getting anything! She'd be scared of him soon enough however, he decided.

"And what use would I have for a weapon when I'm fighting you? I could take you down with my bare hands." He boasted. Kairi was still unworried.

"You think so? Even if I was armed?"

"If you were armed?" He paused, thinking, and then smirked. "Doesn't matter what would happen if you were armed because right now, you're not." Ormi said. Kairi frowned, looking slightly troubled. However, her expression was one of an innocent little girl who seemed to have lost her basket of flowers or something, not one of a teenage girl faced with a man twice her size threatening to beat her to a plup.

"I'm not?" She asked, her voice overdramatic. Ormi was getting angry, knowing she was mocking him. He started towards her. Kairi's innocent expression faltered slightly. This was what she'd been waiting for. The closer he got, the easier it would be for her to take him down before he knew what was happening. Doing that would certainly make everything easier.

"No, you're not." He replied impatiently. Kairi smiled.

"Didn't I tell you not to take me as stupid?" She asked. Ormi was silent, unsure of what she was trying to say. "I would never give up my weapon so easily if I was cornered like I am now." As she spoke, she drew her hands out from behind her back, revealing her claws. Ormi went pale. He knew he was too close. Before he could do anything, Kairi launched herself forward, claws prepared to shishkabob him. He pivoted, trying to get out of the way, though he went not quite far enough. The claws slashed through his back. He dropped, but as soon as he regained his senses, he scrambled back to his feet. Kairi was now standing half way between Ormi and the others. Growling, he was ready to pounce on her, but the feeling of a sharp steel tip against his back made him freeze.

"Don't move." A voice behind him commanded. The pressure of the sword point released, but Ormi could sense it hovering only inches from his skin. Tidus walked around him, still holding him at sword point. Yuna smiled.

"Seems we really do have you outnumbered." She said, turning to face Logos. As she did, she saw he was signaling again. This time, at least 10 more bandits stepped out of the shadows, completely surrounding the group. Logos smirked.

"Alright Gullwings, the tables have turned again. What amazing stunt will you pull this time? Or have we finally actually caught the famous, infamous Gullwings?" He asked. Yuna frowned. Logos' smile widened. "The numbers are on our side now."

"Then let's even them out a bit, shall we?" A voice asked. Paine looked slightly surprised. None of Gullwings could see the others, but Rikku knew the voice instantly.

"Gippal? Geez, what took you guys so long? We thought we were gonna have to squish these guys without you!" She called, grinning. She heard laughter in reply.

"Not a chance we were gonna let you guys have all the fun!" Gippal called back. As if on cue, everyone leapt into action. The fight began.

-

So, it's not really that long, but a lot of shorter ones is better than a handful of long ones that take forever to update, right? That's what I thought! wink Well, R+R, as always! PS: So, maybe I lied a little. It's actually NEXT chappie that I've been waiting forever to write. These three (the last one, this one and the next one) were all supposed to be one chappie, but turned out to be just a _touch_ too long, no?


	18. Am I dead?

The bandits were surprisingly talented fighters. At least Logos and Ormi had given them enough credit to pick out the best fighters. Cutting one down, Paine wondered how much money Logos and Ormi offered them to fight. Seconds after the fighting began, Kairi found herself face to face, once again, with Ormi. This time, she suspected, he wasn't about to underestimate her. However, without his shield, he was left completely open to attack, and he was a much better ranged fighter than he was at melee. He threw a punch, and Kairi ducked, seizing the opportunity. Within seconds, her claws had cut into both of his legs. He dropped like a stone. Standing up, she had barely seconds to think before a bandit pounced on her. He, too, had apparently lost his weapon, and had jumped on her back, trying to weigh her down. Kairi struggled, knowing that if she fell under him, he could pin her in seconds, so instead she threw all her weight sideways. Both of them went tumbling over, but it was Kairi who landed on top of the bandit. He was stronger than she had suspected, and he wrestled her off fairly easily. She was sent rolling over his head. Kairi was on her feet before he was, and this time it was he who had his back to her. She swung her claws low, hitting the back of his calves. Again, his knees buckled. This time, Kairi took the extra precaution of back handing him in the back of the head as he fell. He went out cold, as was Kairi's intention. She wasn't about to have him jump on her like that again. Spinning, she caught sight of Logos, who was sneaking towards the door. Kairi swerved among all the people, catching up to him without him even noticing. Logos lifted his arm to shoot, and Kairi's claws shot out, raking his side. He yelled, clutching his side and dropping to his knees. She touched her claws to his throat, her eyes cold. Staring him down, she withdrew, thinking that her silent threat had been enough. She turned away, taking stock of what was going on around her. She heard a gun shot. It sounded distant, but her ears were ringing from the blast. Time seemed to slow, and tears welled up in her eyes for no reason that she could find. A cold, numbing sensation swept through her body. She knew what was happening now. This was her body's way of fighting pain, but it was a pain that she could not even feel yet. Perhaps the numbness was enough to ward it off? Seconds later, she knew she was mistaken. Blistering fire burst from her shoulder and thundered through the rest of her body. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, but the pain was so great that it held her silent. Her entire body was so tense that she was shaking from exertion. Her fists were clenched so tightly that it would be no surprise to her if her nails had cut the skin in her palms. The mix of icy numbness and blazing, fiery pain swirled in and around her right shoulder. She couldn't feel much of her torso and all feeling in her right arm was rendered completely useless by the numbing. She clenched her eyes shut, not wanting to make the mistake of looking at her shoulder. She'd been standing there for about two seconds, though it felt eternally longer. She stood prone for another five seconds, which felt like another eternity, before her legs relaxed enough that she could move them. All higher thought was gone. She was operating completely on animal instinct now. Slowly, with her eyes still clenched shut, she turned around to face Logos. She opened her eyes slowly. The half-conscious but satisfied expression on his face angered her. Her eyes still half shut, she walked closer to him, the adrenaline giving her new strength. She blinked, and this time her eyes opened fully. Logos looked up at her, and instantly his expression changed to one of horror. He felt her claws against his throat again, but this time her eyes held no hidden mercy. Then, in a split second, Rikku's voice pulled Kairi out of her trance.

"KAIRI!" The Al Bhed girl cried, the first to notice what had happened. Everyone else turned to look. Logos was pale. Kairi blinked a few times. Logos let out a long slow breath. Those horrific eyes were gone. The girl's strength was virtually gone. She wobbled for a moment; the fact that her knees were locked and her center of gravity was exactly centered was all that held her up. Her loss of balance, however, caused her to tilt, falling slowly forward. It was only the gut reaction of her body that buckled her knees and held out her hands to catch her. She landed on all fours, breathing hard. Shouting in rage, Rikku pounced on Logos, almost instantly knocking him out. She was about to help Kairi, but a bandit decided to seize the opportunity and attacked the girls. With frightening strength, Rikku met him and kept him far from Kairi. Meanwhile, Kairi, fighting to stay conscious, decided she had to do something about binding the wound. Weakly, she ripped the thick cuff off of the unconscious Logos' sleeve. He didn't stir. She wrapped the bond around her hand and started to make her way to her feet, knowing she had to get to find some shelter from the fighting. Once she got to her feet, she found that her mind was starting to be able to deal with the pain and half smiled. She took only two steps before she found that the lack of pain was only because her dizziness overrode it. She tumbled forward. Once again, her body's own reaction was all that caught her; only this time, her left arm jarred when it hit the ground and the seared through her back and down her spin. Darkness ate quickly away at the edges of her vision, eating everything into blackness within seconds. Then, the pain was gone. She knew she was fighting a loosing battle against staying awake. The last thing she heard was two voices calling her name.

Baralai looked around, stepping off the ship.

"Okay, so now what?" He asked, puzzled as to how to get in. Sora pointed.

"Hey! I saw someone!" He called, running toward the water's edge. The dark figure, deep beneath the surface of the water, disappeared into an opening of the stone. Gippal walked up behind him.

"You okay? I mean, there's no one else around here…"

"The Gullwings are here." Nooj said, motioning towards the shadow hovering high over their heads. Sora couldn't see what it was, but the others seemed to recognize it. Sora sighed.

"We going in or not?"

"How do we get in?" Baralai asked, still gazing around, looking for some semblance of a way in. Sora rolled his eyes, and let himself drop backwards off the edge and into the water. It certainly caught the attention of the other three. When he surfaced, he saw the surprised looks on the faces of Gippal, Baralai and Nooj, and he couldn't help but grin.

"So? Are you coming?" He asked, kicking off and gliding towards the wall where he saw the shape disappear. Gippal sighed.

"Come on, Sora, this is serious. No time for playing games and going swimming." He said. Baralai and Nooj looked surprised. That most definitely wasn't a normal thing for Gippal to say. It took them a moment to realize that he just wanted to get to battle before it was over. Sora rolled his eyes again.

"This is the way in! Now hurry up!" Gippal shrugged and dove in. Baralai and Nooj were a bit more hesitant. Sora had turned his attention back to the wall and started searching for signs of an opening. His attention was drawn away, however, when Gippal decided it would be fun to dunk him underwater. Resurfacing, Sora glared at him. Gippal just laughed.

"Okay, genius, now tell us where we're going." He said, looking expectant. Sora returned to staring into the depths of the water at the wall.

"I'm working on it, I'm working on – Hey! There it is!" Immediately, the Keybearer dropped underwater, motioning for the others to follow. Unsure, they did. Swimming blindly after Sora, they didn't see the entrance until they were nearly on top of it: A huge, underwater arch, the edges crumbling as if something large had collided with it. Swimming toward it, Sora didn't have a problem making the underwater distance; after all, he'd spent all his life on an island, not to mention the fact that he spent a little while as a half shark in Atlantis. Gippal didn't have much of a problem either; he played a little blitzball, so this was no problem. Baralai and Nooj weren't struggling, but it wasn't easy; water was not either of their element. Bursting through the surface on the other side, Sora scrambled up the slippery rock until he reached dry stone. Someone else had most definitely been here before them; there were multiple sets of foot prints. Gippal broke the surface next, followed closely by Baralai and Nooj. The others joined him on the ruined stone steps. Ready to continue, Nooj stopped them.

"The Gullwings aren't the only ones who'd been here before us." He said. Gippal looked at him strangely.

"What are you talking about?"

"There's more than three sets of footprints here." Nooj explained. Gippal shrugged.

"So?" He asked, exasperated. Nooj shrugged.

"So watch your back is all I'm saying." They stopped when a pair of voices drifted down the hallway. It was hard to tell what they were saying, but it sounded like they were arguing. Approaching the voices, they became clearer, but the argument seemed to have ended abruptly before they got close enough to hear the words. Instead, they heard a thump and a bit of movement. Still approaching, they heard a few other voices, then a lot of movement from a lot of different people. They reached the entrance, and saw a ring of bandits around a group in the middle that they couldn't see for all the bandits. They heard a voice, though, that any of them (except Sora) would recognize instantly: Logos.

"Alright Gullwings, the tables have turned again. What amazing stunt will you pull this time? Or have we finally actually caught the famous, infamous Gullwings?" There was a pause. "The numbers are on our side now." He spoke triumphantly. Baralai, Nooj and Gippal didn't look the least bit fazed. In fact, Gippal was smirking.

"Then let's even them out a bit, shall we?" He asked, lifting his gun. Baralai and Nooj both had their weapons as well. Sora got the picture he was going to need his Keyblade. Another voice called out over the heads of the bandits.

"Gippal? Geez, what took you guys so long? We thought we were gonna have to squish these guys without you!" She said, half laughing. Gippal laughed.

"Not a chance we were gonna let you guys have all the fun!" He yelled back, aiming his gun. Almost instantly, the fight broke out. Sora frowned. Gippal, Baralai and Nooj were taking on 15 opponents, and they were joking about it? Then, he saw how easily the first of the bandits fell, and decided that these guys were no better then the Heartless he was used to fighting. With that, he jumped in the fray and joined in. He had almost fought his way completely across the room when one of who he assumed was these 'Gullwings', a blonde one, nearly ran into him. Sora stepped out of the way as she stumbled backwards. Another woman, with brown hair, was nearby.

"Rikku! Look out!" The blonde looked up. A bandit was approaching her angrily. Sora wasn't sure whether or not to intervene, but within seconds, she was back on her feet. He swung at her; she ducked and snatched something from his bag.

"Hey!" He growled, swinging at her again. This time, she dropped and kicked her legs out, tripping him. As he dropped, she found he had been standing at the edge of the group, and she could see the wall, and Logos. Suddenly, she froze. She didn't notice a bandit had come up behind her; she seemed to be in a momentary state of shock. Sora, this time, stepped in the bandit's way, holding up his Keyblade. The bandit was proving to be just as easy as all the others. As he brought the bandit down, Rikku standing behind him seemed to regain her senses.

"KAIRI!" She cried. Sora faltered, spinning. _What did she say!_ She was already racing towards a figure standing next to Logos. Without warning, the figure collapsed into a heap on the floor. Sora's view was blocked by a bandit, who decided to take Sora on in his state of surprise. He took the bandit down easily. Slipping out of the battle, he saw Rikku beating on another bandit who'd decided to take advantage of her while she tried to help the injured heap. The heap, who Sora could now see was a girl, about his age, with a huge wound gaping in her left shoulder. She was on all fours, gingerly ripping Logos' sleeve to use as a bandage. Sora started towards her when he felt a sharp point of metal against his back, and a sinister laugh. Spinning, Sora surprised the bandit, who, like all the others was an easy fight; easy fight but this one was lengthy, or lengthier than Sora would have liked. When he turned back to the injured girl, she was on her feet, walking slowly towards the edge of the hall. Shock fell over him once again. _Kairi? No way, that's impossible. It looks like her, but…_ Suddenly, she stopped. She fell forward. Sora started to run to her, but he knew that he'd never get there on time to catch her. She fell to all fours again, but her injured arm gave way and she collapsed with a gasp to the floor. Rikku had seen it too, and both of them were scrambling to get to her. Another bandit had decided to use this new advantage against them, and was running to cut Sora off. Rikku spotted this and, being close enough, she pounced on him. Sora reached Kairi a moment later. Kneeling beside her, he pushed the hair from her face. _It couldn't be, could it?_ Another voice caught his attention. Baralai was shouting to him from the battle.

"Sora! Get her to some shelter! We'll cover you!" He and a woman dressed all in black and red and carrying a menacing sword stepped to the edge of the fighting, blocking any bandits from getting past them to where Sora was. Rikku joined them moments later. Taking once more glance at her, Sora decided that she had to be Kairi. Carefully, he lifted her up and walked slowly towards the edge, searching for some cover. There was a corner, hidden and protected by rubble, that caught his eye and he started towards it. Rikku's started to call out.

"Look out, look out, LOOK OUT!" Her voice was quite frantic. Taking his attention from Kairi for a moment, he glanced up. One of the bandits had managed to slip by the group while they'd been busy with others. Grinning maliciously, he approached Sora triumphantly. Sora let Kairi's feet drop, holding her up with one arm, as he grabbed his Keyblade and pointed it at the bandit. He cackled.

"Must be pretty hard to fight with only one arm, eh?" He asked cruelly. Sora glared at him.

"Probably, but you're not going to live long enough for me to find out." He replied, just as cold. The bandit laughed, but paled when he saw Sora's Keyblade glowing. In a moment, all the energy had gathered at a tip, and began to spit fireballs at him, one after the other. Once the rain of fire stopped, there wasn't anything left of the bandit but ashes. Breathing hard, Sora lifted Kairi again, slowly and carefully, making his way to the sheltered corner. He knew he'd exhausted all his magic, but he hadn't been prepared to risk not bringing that bandit down the first attack. Carefully, he laid Kairi down on her stomach and sat down next to her, carefully pushing her hair away from the wound. Once he got to see it in it's entirety, he cringed. He was about to heal her, but stopped, realizing that he had not magic left. He was reminded of something Areith had said once. They'd all been in Traverse Town, and Yuffie had gotten herself a nice deep gash in the back of her knee. Leon, behaving very strangely in front of everyone else, had carried poor Yuffie all the way back to the Hotel. Once back, Areith had taken one look and refused to heal it. Leon was furious. Calmly, Areith had explained that if someone was ever injured on a major joint and it was healed by magic, they would almost certainly loose most of the use of that joint. Yuffie's knee had been bound and, within a few days, she was healed perfectly. Sora sighed. He couldn't do anything about Kairi's injury now; if he did, she'd never be able to use her arm again. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the strip of cloth wound around Kairi's hand. It was the sleeve she'd taken from Logos. Gently, he unraveled it and grabbed a potion from his pocket. He wasn't about to risk using any potion of higher potency, but he knew that at least a potion might help dull the pain. He started to open the bottle, and Kairi groaned. He put the bottle down and watched her intently. Her eyes open slowly and looked up at him. With a look of slight confusion on her face, she asked,

"Am I dead?"


	19. On the ship again

_I have a headache_. That was the first thought to run through Kairi's throbbing head as she slowly gained consciousness. She moved a little, feeling the sting of movement over her injury. She could feel her hair being pushed away. Gathering all her will, she fought off the remnants of unconsciousness and stirred a little. She suddenly became aware of the movement around her, or, more accurately, the lack of movement. When the person had been moving, she hadn't noticed until they stopped. Something told her that she should have known someone was there because she felt someone moving her hair, but she was in no mood for logic. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked up at this person next to her. Confusion was plastered all over her face. She couldn't see much of anything except a very undistinct blob of colour. She blinked a few times, her vision coming back into focus. Once she could see properly, her heart almost stopped. Staring up at him a second longer, she decided that this couldn't be real, and before she could stop herself, she asked,

"Am I dead?" Her voice was cracked, and she knew she didn't sound very healthy, but she really didn't care. Sora smiled sadly.

"You're not dead." He replied. "I don't know what I'd do if you were." Immediately, his eyes dropped away from hers and she knew he hadn't intended to say that. She watched him, half smiling and pretending she hadn't heard. He picked up the potion bottle and dipped the makeshift bandage inside. Gingerly, Kairi sat up.

"I didn't think I was. I still hurt too much to be dead." She admitted, pulling her hair over her right shoulder. She felt one of Sora's hands on her lower back, steadying her, and the other she could feel holding the potion-drenched cloth just inches from her wound.

"I'm sorry if this hurts, but if you give it a moment, it will dull the pain." He spoke almost nervously. Kairi nodded, bracing herself. He touched it to the injury, and almost instantly, she cried out, pulling herself away from it. She felt his hand on her right shoulder, worried. "Are you alright?"

"Do I look alright to you?" She snapped. There was silence. Kairi turned to face him, her eyes low. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" To her surprise, Sora touched his fingers to her lips, rendering her speechless.

"It's okay, I know." For a long while afterward, there was silence. Sora quietly unfolded the bandage and tried again. This time, though it made her eyes burn with tears for a few moments, Sora got it on long enough for the initial pain to pass. He had been right; the potion was helping dull the pain. Carefully as he could, he wrapped the bandage around her shoulder. She sat as quietly and as still as she could, but every once in a while, she'd begin to sway, her dizziness overcoming her senses again. Each time, with a hand that she found surprisingly gentle for someone who was born destined to be a warrior, he'd steady her until the spell had passed. Once it was tied, Kairi tried to move her arm a little. It hurt, but at least it was mobile. Suddenly, she felt an overwhelming wave of exhaustion passing over her.

"I'm tired." She murmured, yawning. Sora smiled.

"I could only imagine." As he spoke, she curled up, leaning against him, and rested her head on his shoulder. Something in her mind told her that she shouldn't be doing that, because of things like manners and pride, things that all felt rather trivial to her at the moment. All she wanted was someplace safe and warm and comfortable to fall asleep, and in Sora's arms? _What could be better?_ She thought drowsily, drifting off to sleep. Rather surprised, Sora shifted his weight slightly, to accommodate Kairi's injury. Before he realized what he was doing, he found himself wrapping his arms around her. He almost had to laugh at himself. From the moment he first saw her here, he'd been bursting with questions. How she could have possibly gotten here was the most persistent, but now that they were there, together, he found that he wasn't dieing to know anymore. He was quite content to just sit there with her. This was why he'd been searching for her and now that he found her, sitting there holding her in his arms, he was seriously contemplating never letting go. A slight movement caught his attention. Looking up, he saw eight amused faces watching him. Yuna was grinning, biting her lip. Tidus, his arms around Yuna, was grinning too. Rikku looked like she was trying not to laugh. Gippal was half laughing, half smirking. Paine was trying to look indifferent as she always did, though unsuccessfully. Baralai was trying to hide a smile, as was Nooj and Leblanc. Sora looked innocently at them.

"What?" That was not the reaction any of them had expected, and so he got a couple of weird looks before Yuna and Rikku came over to help. The girls lifted Kairi off him so he could stand up.

"Alright," Paine said, sounding bored. "Let's get Kairi back to the ship."

Sora, Gippal, Baralai, Nooj, Leblanc, Yuna, Tidus, Rikku and Paine all piled onto the bridge, much to Buddy's amused surprise and Brother's disliking.

"What is this? Why are there all these people on my ship?" The Al Bhed leader demanded in his broken English. As Yuna and Paine explained, the others tried to relax. Sora couldn't sit still. He hadn't argued when everyone decided that they should all go to the ship and leave Kairi be, but to be honest, he'd wanted to stay with her. He was drawn out of his thoughts, however, when Brother marched over to him.

"Who are you?" He demanded, almost shouting. Sora started and looked up at him. Brother was obviously pretty angry about something, but as he hadn't been paying much attention, he didn't know why.

"I'm Sora!" He said, smiling. "I'm the Keybearer!" It had become general habit for him to say that when introducing himself, because people usually ended up asking him that anyways. Brother gave him a weird look.

"You are the key bear?" He asked, studying Sora suspiciously.

"Key-bear-er." Sora repeated, enunciating every syllable. Brother crossed his arms.

"What key?" He asked, still unsure. Now it was Sora who gave Brother the weird look.

"The Keyblade." he replied. Most other people seemed to know what he was talking about when he said he was the Keybearer. Brother was still studying Sora suspiciously. It was making him rather uncomfortable. "Umm, do you want me to show you what I'm talking about?" He asked, fidgeting a little. Brother nodded.

"Show us this 'key'." Brother commanded. Instantly, Sora had it in his hand. Brother raised his eyebrows. "HA! You say that is a weapon?" Sora glared at him.

"Yes it's a weapon, and a good one too." He replied defensively. Brother chuckled and walked away. Buddy walked over to Sora and shrugged.

"Don't worry about him, he hates having new people on his airship. Wouldn't talk to Paine for two weeks when she joined the Gullwings."

"The Gullwings?"

"We're spherehunters. Haven't you heard of us?"

"Nope." Sora replied, wondering what a spherehunter was.

"I'm not surprised." Gippal said. "You haven't even heard of blitzball before I told you about it, eh?" He said, smirking. Buddy looked surprised.

"You haven't heard of blitzball either? Where are you from?" He asked, thinking Sora was from some far off little island somewhere that was cut off from everything else (which really wasn't too far from the truth).

"I'm from the Destiny Islands." Sora replied.

"The where?" Buddy asked. Sora sighed. _Didn't I just go through this conversation with Gippal and Baralai and Nooj?_ he asked himself.

"The Destiny Islands, in the Kingdom." He replied. Gippal crossed his arms.

"Alright!" He said loudly, drawing everyone else's attention. "Might as well tell us all exactly what you're talking about, so then at least you won't have to explain it a bunch of times." He said, motioning for everyone else to come over. Sora shrugged.

"Okay. So, I was born on the Destiny Islands. From the time I was really little, I was best friends with a guy named Riku. When we were still pretty young, Kairi moved to the Islands, but she doesn't remember where she came from before that."

"Hold on, you know Kairi?" Rikku asked. Gippal laughed.

"Come on, after that little scene at the ruins, you still didn't think they knew each other? Come on, how dense are you?"

"Hey! That's not nice!" Rikku complained, punching Gippal in the arm. He smirked, but cringed when Paine punched his other arm.

"Both of you shut up and listen." She commanded. Sora was having a hard time keeping from laughing, but he cleared his throat and continued.

"Anyways, the three of us were all best friends until me and Kairi were fourteen and Riku was fifteen. One night, there was a storm, and I got worried that our raft that we were building was going to be broken in the storm, so I went out to check on it. Riku and Kairi were out too, but when I reached the dock, I found the whole island swarming with Heartless. I couldn't do much against them with my old wooden sword, so I had to run to find Riku and Kairi. I found Riku, and he said a bunch of stuff to me that I thought made no sense at the time, and I somehow ended up with the Keyblade. After that, I went looking for Kairi, and I found her in the Secret Place, but the door blew open and threw me back outside."

"What's the Secret Place?" Yuna asked.

"And what door?" Baralai asked, sounding a bit confused.

"The Secret Place was a cave on the Islands that we used to go to a lot, and I don't remember when, but one day, a weird wooden door just appeared in the wall of the cave. I found out later that it was the door to other worlds."

"Other worlds?" Paine asked.

"That's what the Kingdom is, it's a group of planets that were never connected before, but the Heartless connected them."

"The Heartless connected them? Well, they don't seem so bad." Rikku observed. Sora shook his head.

"The Heartless only connected them to destroy them. That's what happened to the Destiny Islands. They were destroyed by the Heartless."

"How'd you get off?" Rikku asked eagerly. Sora shrugged.

"Honestly, I don't know. I just remember waking up in an alleyway in Traverse Town. I met Leon, Arieth and Yuffie there, and I met up with Donald and Goofy. From there, I went to the other worlds on the gummiship that Donald and Goofy had brought, to lock all the planets."

"What's a gummiship?" Baralai asked, reminded of when Sora had mentioned that before.

"Locking the planets?" Yuna asked. Sora nodded.

"When a planet is locked, it keeps the Heartless from reaching the planet's core, so they can't destroy it."

"What's a gummiship?" Paine repeated.

"It's a ship that can fly from planet to planet." Sora replied. Shinra looked up from his work.

"A ship that can fly from planet to planet? How?"

"Umm, naviblocks." Sora replied, shrugging.

"Navi-what?"

"Naviblocks. You attach them to your ship and then you can make your way to the next planet." Sora answered simply. Shinra nodded.

"And, where do you get these?"

"Around, I guess. Actually, I think I have one somewhere." As he spoke, he began to rummage around. Then, grinning, he pulled an odd looking block, that didn't appear to have much of a purpose at all. Shinra stared at it.

"…that?"

"Yup, this is a gummiblock." Sora answered, handing it to him. Getting a closer look, Shinra nodded in amazement.

"Genius…" he muttered. "Sheer genius…" Nodding, he looked back up at Sora. "If I could have a few hours to take a closer look, I may just be able to duplicate it. You don't mind, do you?"

"Not at all." Sora replied, nodding. A moment later, Barkeep burst into the room.

"Oh! Deersh! She'sh being shick!" He cried, stumbling down the stairs. Sora looked up, trying to decipher the Hypello's words. Yuna frowned.

"Kairi's sick?" She asked, worried.

"Veeery!" Barkeep replied, obviously stressed. Sora frowned.

"She's sick?" He asked Yuna, who nodded in reply. Instantly, he was off towards the elevator. Yuna glanced around the room.

"Baralai and Rikku, come give us a hand!" She ordered, running towards the elevator. Both Baralai and Rikku sprang into action, Baralai heading off to collect potions, antidotes and various other useful items, when Rikku snatched up her Healing Wind grid and grabbing the white mage and alchemist dresspheres, which she put on the grid as she ran for the elevator, Baralai on her heels.


	20. The Hotel

Quietly, Sora approached the half-asleep Kairi. She was lying on one of the beds in the cabin, one hand on her stomach, the other resting on her bandaged shoulder. She was cringing; tossing and turning in an attempt to fall back asleep. He sat down on the end of her bed and she stopped moving, one of her eyes opening a crack. She half smiled at him, looking uncomfortable. She was flushed; she had a fever.

"Kairi, are you going to be okay?" He asked quietly, watching her with worry. She groaned and shrugged, sitting up a little.

"Maybe."

Yuna reached the top of the stairs and found Sora talking quietly with Kairi, trying to find out what was wrong. Rikku came racing up the stairs seconds later, almost running into Yuna. Baralai followed.

"What's up?" Rikku whispered, standing on her tip-toes to see Kairi and Sora better from over Yuna's shoulder. Yuna shrugged. The three of them were silent for a moment; then Sora stood up and walked towards them.

"Is she going to be okay?" Baralai asked, rooting through his bag of items. Sora smiled, looking a bit relieved.

"She's fine. With her shoulder, she can't deal with the movement on the ship. We need to get her to the ground and she'll be alright." He answered. Instantly, Rikku was running down the stairs.

"BROTHER!" She yelled, running into the elevator. Yuna smiled, following. Baralai and Sora were left standing at the top of the stairs. Baralai looked around.

"You know, it's probably not such a bad thing anyways." She said absently. Sora looked at him.

"Huh?"

"I mean, we could all probably use a rest. Being grounded really wouldn't be such a bad thing." He explained. Sora nodded. Baralai started down the stairs, but noticed Sora wasn't following.

"Coming?"

"Nah, I'm gonna stick around here a while, make sure Kairi's gonna be okay." He answered. Baralai nodded in understanding.

"See you later then."

The Celcius landed in Luca, and the group stayed at the same hotel that Sora had been at the night before. It was actually quite a nice hotel; it had a games room (pool tables, card tables, ping pong, air hockey, and the like), it had a swimming pool and it was just off of Luca's shopping district. Sitting in the games room, everyone (except Kairi, who was still asleep, in one of the rooms) was trying to decide what to do.

"Might as well just stay around here." Paine said.

"We need the rest, and it's not like there's not enough to do." Baralai agreed. Gippal frowned.

"What do you mean? There's stuff to do, but it's all boring stuff. I mean come on, who actually _likes_ shopping anyways?" He asked.

"I like shopping!" Rikku replied defensively.

"Me too!" Yuna agreed.

"So do I!" LeBlanc answered airily. All three of them looked at Paine. She rolled her eyes.

"I guess I do too." She said resignedly. Gippal crossed his arms.

"But you guys are girls. You don't count." He said firmly.

"Who said girls don't count?" Yuna, LeBlanc and Paine asked angrily as Rikku smacked Gippal across the back of the head. Gippal shrunk into his chair.

"Okay okay, but what do _I_ have to do here?" He asked. Paine shrugged.

"Amuse yourself." She replied, sounding bored. Baralai tried to keep from smiling.

"I'm sure you'll find something to do. It don't blame you for not wanting to hang out here and play some pool with me and Nooj and Sora and Tidus. We all know that we'd kick your ass every time." He said lazily. Gippal glared at him.

"Wanna bet? I'll take you on any time, and beat you, too! I'd take all four of you on at the same time and kick your asses!"

"I doubt that. I've never been beaten at pool." Nooj answered.

"Well there's a first for everything!" Gippal answered.

"That's just pool." Sora said, sound bored. "You try air hockey. It takes some serious skill to beat a pro like me."

"I'll kick your sorry ass at it! Bring it on!" Gippal answered. Rikku giggled.

"Now look, you're getting him all excited." She scolded, half laughing. Gippal frowned.

"What is this? Everybody versus Gippal day?" He asked. Yuna grinned.

"You brought this on yourself." She told him. Gippal opened his mouth to reply, then seemed to think of something better.

"So, Baralai and Nooj'll be keeping busy with pool, I'll be busy kicking Sora's ass at air hockey, so that leaves Tidus." He looked at the blitzball player, grinning evilly. "Of course, _you_ won't have any problem keeping yourself occupied with _her_ around." He said, glancing at Yuna, who flushed.

"What are you implying?" Tidus asked, glaring at him. Gippal smirked.

"You know what I'm implying." He answered, laughing.

"SHUT UP GIPPAL!" Everyone shouted. Gippal frowned, shrinking back into his chair.

"How is it fair that everyone can laugh at me, but I can't laugh at anyone?" He asked meekly. Paine shrugged.

"I guess life isn't fair, is it?"

"Poor widdle Gippal." Rikku said, standing up and walking over him. "Is evewybudy teasing you?" She asked, looking down at him. Gippal stood up, bringing himself up to full height and towering over her.

"Who's little, meddma bnehlacc?" He asked, stooping a little so they were face to face. Rikku turned red, and frowned, crossing her arms. She started to back up a little, turning redder with every step.

"Hey!" She shouted once she'd backed up a few steps. Gippal just smirked, seeming satisfied. Everyone else but Paine looked quite confused (do Baralai and Nooj speak Al Bhed? Well, for the purposes of this story, they do not, because I don't remember if they really do or not). Rikku kept backing up, blushing even more furiously than before.

That night, Rikku was lying on her bed in her room, staring at the ceiling. She had just pulled on a huge shirt, which was her chosen pajamas, and so her hair was half fallen out. The bed next to her was actually her own, but she had stuff thrown all over it, so she decided to steal this one until Paine got out of the bathroom. They and Yuna were all sharing a room. Yuna had snuck off somewhere with Tidus and they weren't about to go look for her, for fear of walking in on her and Tidus doing something 'inappropriate', so it was decided that Yuna was going to get stuck with the cot laying at the end of Rikku's bed. Paine emerged into the room, her hair soaked and dressed in very comfortable looking black pajamas. She gave Rikku one look and the Al Bhed girl rolled off and began to clear her own bed. Paine flopped down and flipped on the TV, with, however, no intention of watching it. She waited patiently as Rikku went through her stuff, throwing some of it on the chair next to the window, some of it on the floor and the rest of it back in her bag. Finally, Rikku sat down on her bed and got comfortable. Almost instantly, Paine heard Rikku sigh.

"I'm not tired." She complained. Surprisingly, Paine took it well.

"Its 11:00" The warrior observed, showing no hint of emotion. Rikku rolled over and looked at her.

"So? Are you saying that it's late or that it's early?" She asked, sounding curious. Paine just shrugged. Rikku grumbled something incomprehensible. Paine half smiled.

"Are you still angry from this afternoon?" She asked, sounding like she still found the argument amusing. Rikku sat up.

"No!" She denied angrily, pouting. Paine sat up as well, watching Rikku.

"You can't get so worked up over the stuff he says, you know he's just being himself." She said, looking suddenly interested in her finger nails. Rikku huffed.

"I know! I told you already that I wasn't mad!" Her voice was loud enough to almost be a yell. Paine shushed her and shrugged.

"You sound pretty mad to me." She observed lazily. Rikku shook her head vigorously.

"I'm not, I'm not, I'm not!" She insisted. Paine lifted her hands in defeat.

"Okay, okay, you're not, but then what are you? You're certainly not yourself." Paine told her, standing up and walking over to the bathroom door. She flicked off the light and leaned against the wall as Rikku spoke.

"I'm…ummm…I dunno." She admitted. Paine walked over to the disdraught young Al Bhed and sat down next to her.

"Well, all he did was say you were little, and you _are_ the youngest of us. I can understand if a guy got angry at him for saying that, but otherwise…" She smiled evilly. "Rikku, is there something you're not telling us here?" She asked seriously, but not trying very hard to hide her smirk. Rikku frowned, snatching a pillow and swinging it. Paine blocked the blow with her arm, but Rikku had been expecting her to do that, and so she made a wide arc over her head and hit her in the back of the head. Paine ignored it and Rikku frowned even more.

"Oh course I'm a girl! And him calling me little isn't what bothers me!" She announced, sound distressed. Paine looked surprised.

"Well then what _is_ bothering you?" She asked, sounding curious. Rikku started to turn red again, her eyes dropping to the floor.

"He didn't just call me little." Rikku recalled. Paine thought a moment.

"That's right, he said something else too. Meddma… What else was it he said?"

"Meddma bnehlacc." Rikku answered quietly. Paine raised her eyebrows. Rikku was staring at her lap and didn't see that Paine understood, so she kept talking. "He called me little princess. He called me a princess." Instantly, Rikku became afraid of what Paine would say. At first, she had just been worrying that Paine might tell Gippal, but now she was suddenly worried about what Paine might say. She jumped when she felt a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

"I get it." They were words that wouldn't mean much of anything to anybody, but coming from Paine, and at that time, they were the most comforting words Rikku could have heard. She looked up and smiled. The moment was broken as the younger girl pounced on Paine in a fierce hug, nearly knocking both of them over.

"Thanks Paine-y!"

Hurrah! We've hit 20 chappies! Much love and R+R!


	21. Kiss

The hotel door opened quietly and Yuna slipped inside. It was an hour since Rikku and Paine had shown up at the room, and she was hoping to get inside and to bed unnoticed, with the other two asleep. She wasn't so lucky.

"Where've you been?" Paine asked lazily, not even looking up from whatever it was that she was doing as she sat at the head of her bed. Rikku leapt out of her bed and stepped slyly between Yuna and the bathroom door. Yuna smiled innocently.

"What do you mean? Me and Tidus went out so I could show him how Luca's changed since he left." She spoke quietly, her voice not as steady as she'd hoped. Paine now looked up and smirked.

"Bull. You're lying to us Yuna…" she stood up, and watched the ex-summoner accusingly. Rikku grinned.

"Tell us what you were really doing!" She commanded, not letting Yuna past to get into the bathroom.

"Later, I need to get ready for bed." Yuna said, trying (unsuccessfully) to get past Rikku. Rikku shook her head vigorously.

"Nope! You're going to tell us right now!"

"Rikku, please-." Yuna began, but Paine interrupted.

"You didn't think you were going to get off this easy, did you?" She asked, placing herself firmly in front of the bathroom door.

"Come on Yunie!" Rikku begged. Exasperated, Yuna crossed her arms.

"Alright! We didn't do anything! I'm still a virgin if that's what you wanted to know!" A silence settled over the room. Yuna was momentarily frozen in surprise at her outburst, but then fell into hysterical laughter at the looks on Paine's and Rikku's faces. Grinning triumphantly, she walked passed both girls and disappeared into the bathroom. Rikku snapped out of her surprise first and sat down on her bed, pondering what Yuna's words really meant. Paine smirked.

"Yuna lost her virginity this evening." She said, sounding confident. Rikku looked confused.

"But she just said-."

"I know, but why else would she say something like that? We didn't _ask_ her if she was a virgin, did we? She denied it anyways." Paine went back to the book she'd been reading when Yuna came in. Rikku nodded in slow understanding. Yuna's head poked out the door, framed by wisps of steam. The shower was running behind her and she was wrapped in a towel.

"If you're going to talk about me, at least don't talk so loudly. I can hear every word. And no, I didn't do anything _inappropriate_ thank you very much. I denied it because you know that's what you were implying."

"Then what _were_ you doing?" Rikku asked, but Yuna closed the door before she had the question out of her mouth. Pouting, she snuggled under her covers. "Yunie's being and meanie, don't you think?" She asked, sounding almost grumpy. Paine half-smiled.

"Not really. What would you say if I told Yuna about your little princess problem in exchange for her telling us what she really did?"

"DON'T!" Rikku cried, sitting bolt upright and looking horrified. Paine shrugged.

"I'll keep you secret and we'll let Yuna keep hers then, got it?"

……

Kairi blinked. The sun was in her eyes and she couldn't see much of anything for the glare. She adjusted a little, so the sun wasn't shining in her eyes. She was in an empty hotel room, or at least it seemed empty for the moment. She tried to adjust herself again, this time to make herself more comfortable, but found she couldn't.

"I'm so stiff…" she muttered, trying to roll over without having her muscles scream. She froze when another voice answered her.

"That's what happens when you sleep for almost two days straight." someone spoke, half-laughing from behind her. She finished rolling over quickly, ignoring her groaning muscles and joints. She relaxed when she saw Sora sitting on the chair next to her bed, swinging his Keyblade idly.

"It's only you…" she breathed, calming her beating heart. He looked at her, eyebrows raised.

"_Only_ me?" He asked, sounding surprised. It took Kairi a moment to realize what she'd said.

"Oh no! That's not what I meant, I mean, well…" she paused, trying to put the words together and clear the fuzz out of her mind at the same time. She sat up and continued. "I mean, you're… not somebody else?" She tried to explain, though her mind seemed muddled beyond repair. She blinked again, trying to clear her thoughts. Sora grinned.

"I know what you mean, don't worry about it." He assured her, setting down his Keyblade. Kairi sighed, staring up at the ceiling.

"I've been sleeping for almost _two days_?" She asked, surprised. Sora nodded.

"Almost. Two days this afternoon since you got hit with that bullet."

"Two days…" Kairi repeated. "I didn't know anyone could sleep that long." She said, more thinking aloud than anything else.

"You always sleep when you're sick. Remember when you caught that nasty flu when we were little? You were in bed for like a week." Sora sat down on the end of her bed. Kairi smiled at him.

"You and Riku came to visit every day." Kairi said slowly, reminiscing.

"Didn't Riku stop coming after a while?" Sora asked, watching her curiously.

"Oh yeh, he stopped coming to visit after I almost sneezed on him." She answered, grinning. "He said that his mom stopped letting him come because she didn't want him to get sick."

"And his mom told mine, so I had to make up some crazy lies to get my mom to let me come, too." Sora said, nodding.

"You made up believable enough lies that she'd let you come?" Kairi asked, surprised. Sora grinned.

"Nah, I don't think she ever believed a word of them. By the end of the week I was getting so desperate I can remember making something up about rabid hippos or something." Kairi put a hand to her mouth, trying to hide her laughter.

"Rabid hippos? Where do you come up with this stuff?" She asked, still laughing. Sora shrugged.

"I honestly have no idea." he admitted. Still amused, Kairi swung her legs over the side of the bed and started standing up.

"What time is it?" She asked, steadying herself on her feet.

"Getting close to noon." He replied, standing up with her. He spotted something sitting on a table and grabbed it. "Before I forget, Shinra told me to give this to you. He said he made you a couple of extras just in case you decide to break some more." He handed her a leather bag. He had no idea what was inside, and from the way he spoke Kairi could tell he had no idea what he was talking about; he was just repeating what he'd been told. She took it, and looked inside. Emptying the bag on the bed, she smiled. There were three new disks, to replace the one she'd broken when she took down Ormi's shield. Sora was still clearly confused. Kairi turned quickly, scanning the room for her things. Apparently, she turned a little too quickly, all the blood pumping into her head. She could feel her balance draining away, and stumbled forward, reaching out to catch herself on a wall. To her dismay, she stumbled right past the wall, finding nothing to catch herself with. Her hand found a doorknob a moment too late; her knees buckled and she dropped. Before she hit the floor, however, she felt Sora catching her and immediately the uncontrollable rushing feeling stopped. He caught her by the waist and pulled her close to him. She gladly leaned against him, steadying. It took her a moment to regain her balance, but by the time she had, all her muscles felt like jelly and if he let her go she'd only fall again. Her eyes were shut tight and she was waiting with baited breath for the adrenaline to drain away, for the panic to fade. That instant of panic that everyone feels when they realize that they are completely out of control of a situation would be all that was needed...

"Kairi?" Sora's voice pulled her from her thoughts. She lifted her face to him, but kept her eyes shut tight. He sounded worried. "Are you okay?" She nodded.

"I'll be fine." She answered, trying a bit too hard to sound like she was just fine. Sora faltered, unsure.

"You know…" he began slowly, "opening your eyes will help the dizziness pass." He still sounded unsure. Kairi froze for a moment, then, slowly, opened her eyes. As she did, she found herself staring right into Sora's eyes. She froze again. He smiled slightly. Kairi began to breathe again, only just realizing that she'd been holding her breath. He still looked worried. "You're really tense. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine." She answered, this time with complete sincerity, relaxing a little. He still had his arms around her waist, and made no move to let her go. More on impulse than anything else, he lean toward her. Their lips met for a moment, before Sora pulled away, dropping his arms from around Kairi at the same time. Surprised, she had to catch herself on the bedside table. They looked at each other for a moment. Kairi wanted to say something, to do something, but her lips were numb and the tingling numbness was spreading all through her body, rooting her to the spot. Sora looked half helpless, half horrified. Again, Kairi tried to say something, but found her voice was gone. Sora's eyes dropped to the floor.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have…" he muttered, not finishing before he turned around and walked out of the room, still shocked that he just done what he did.

…….

Gasp Poor Sora! R+R! And hurrah! We've matched the last story (I abandoned it at chappie 21)! Yay for me! I'll update soon, I know this is a bad place to leave my dear readers :P


	22. Shopping and then another?

Sitting on her bed, it took Kairi a few minutes to figure out what just happened to her. She sat in silence for a full ten minutes, and even in that time could only find one clear conclusion: she had to talk to Sora. She didn't even have any idea what she thought she was going to say to him, but as she stepped into the hallway of the hotel, it became clear that she wouldn't have to worry about it. Rikku and Yuna were walking down the hall toward her and, upon seeing her up, ran over to her in a rush of 'are you okay' and 'how are you feeling' and other such questions that did nothing but confuse the still rather tired girl. Paine showed up moments later and, despite her efforts to clam everything down, succeeded only in confusing Kairi further. It wasn't until LeBlanc arrived that things took some direction.

"Clearly the poor girl has overslept." She decided upon arrival. Everyone else went quiet.

"And who made you the authority?" Paine asked, breaking the silence. Leblanc laughed, as if the answer were obvious.

"When a woman has beauty sleep down to as fine a science as I do, it becomes clear that proper beauty sleep is a fine line, and it is much too easy to cross either into too little or too much sleep." She spoke as if it was obvious, but her knowledge clearly surprised the other girls. She continued, "It's quite apparent that poor Kairi has overslept, and there's only one cure for that." She looked at the others. None of them seemed to have any idea of where she was going. "The only real cure for overtiredness from oversleep is shopping. Lots of shopping."

"Ohhhh! Kairi, we're gonna give you a make-over!" Rikku squealed, excited. Yuna grinned.

"What are we waiting for? The sooner we administer the cure, the sooner the results will take effect." She said, sound like she was trying too hard to sound professional. Within seconds, the entire group of them had burst into fits of giggles.

"This is going to be _funnnn_!"

……………..

In minutes, Kairi found herself in Yuna Rikku and Paine's room, piles of stuff dumped all over the floor and bed, mostly make-up and the like. Rikku was attempting to put some brightly coloured eyeshadow on Paine, who was flatly refusing. Kairi never bothered to resist and just let Yuna and Leblanc go to work on her. It was actually quite relaxing (AN: for anyone who's had a facial, you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about grin). Though Kairi wouldn't have known, it was actually quite surprising how well Yuna and Leblanc got along as they worked together. Rikku had persuaded Paine to let her do her makeup if she let Paine do hers first. Paine really didn't have any intention of actually upholding her end of the bargain, but figured it would be fun to give Rikku a bit of a change of look, even if it meant getting on the young Al Bhed girl's bad side for a little while afterwards. If she was _really _lucky, Rikku would like what Paine did and forget to be angry altogether. Paine laughed in spite of herself. _Like that's going to happen._ She thought, digging through Leblanc's seemingly never-ending bag of interesting makeup stuff. Without warning, Leblanc and Yuna grabbed Kairi by the hands and pulled her up off the bed, sitting her on a chair that seemed to have appeared from out of nowhere. It was actually the chair from the corner by the window, but Kairi had just had her eyes closed for a few seconds and it hadn't been there before. Not getting much of a chance to think about it, she found herself sitting in the chair while Yuna ran a brush through her hair and Leblanc plugged in multiple hair accoutrements (straightener, curler, etc). The pair of them played with her hair for quite a while, often bursting into fits of laughter and leaving Kairi blind to whatever it was they were doing, because she was sitting facing a wall. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Leblanc spun the chair around so Kairi faced the rest of them, both she and Yuna grinning.

"Done!" She announced. Rikku and Paine looked up. Kairi had to do a double take when she saw Rikku. She had a style that one would expect from Paine, but to Kairi's surprise, the Al Bhed girl looked really good! Her hair was pulled back loosely, falling out of a dark clip in loose, curly layers. Her makeup was dark; thick mascara and dark eyeliner, but it only made her bright green eyes seem all the brighter. She was wearing dark green eyeshadow, which again only served to highlight her eyes. Kairi grinned.

"Wow, Rikku, that looks good!" She said, standing up. Rikku grinned.

"You too, but I guess we wouldn't know, we haven't looked in a mirror yet!" With that, both of them burst into the bathroom. When Kairi saw her reflection, she was rather taken aback. She'd always known herself to be less 'girly' than most of the other girls she knew, and never really had a second thought about how she looked, but, seeing how she looked now made her think twice for the first time. Her hair fell freely about her shoulders, hanging in thick, choppy, waves, her dark locks framing her face. A little mascara widened her eyes, making them look incredibly intense. The light shade of pink eyeshadow made her eyes look bluer than they were, making them look like more of an aqua colour, bright green with streaks of ocean blue. She was about to head out of the bathroom when she realized that Rikku was giving her a funny look.

"What?" She asked, slightly bewildered. Rikku grinned.

"Nothing, you just look really nice is all. Why didn't you ever wear makeup before?" Kairi shrugged, and led the way out of the bathroom, back into the main part of the hotel room where Leblanc, Paine and Yuna were waiting for them. As soon as Kairi emerged, they all started outside, talking of their plans for their impromptu day of shopping. The group spilled out of the hotel and onto the walk, splashes of sunlight peeking across the road between buildings and through windows. Leblanc proclaimed herself the authority on Luca's shopping district, pointing out the best shops, the expensive boutiques and of course all the sorts of stores she'd never be caught dead in. The other girls were insistent that Kairi's makeover wouldn't be complete without a new outfit. The five of them spent hours browsing through shops, trying on clothes and picking out Kairi's perfect new outfit. The whole time, Kairi felt a little bit overwhelmed, but Leblanc had been right; the cure for oversleeping was definitely shopping. Kairi was feeling much better already.

………….

Back at the hotel, the guys were realizing that there was not a girl to be seen.

"So, where did they go?" Baralai asked, sounding more confused than anything. Gippal shrugged, seeming like he didn't care. According to him, that's how he was supposed to act and, because of that, he'd gotten very good at hiding worry. He really didn't want to admit it, even to himself, but he was kind of worried about where Cid's little girl could have disappeared to without a trace. Nooj wasn't entirely that worried, though it would have been nice to have an explanation. There was always, however, that thought of what had happened to Leblanc. What if something like that had happened again? Tidus had no worries at all. Yuna and the girls had survived without him for two years, they could survive one afternoon more. Sora was trying to keep himself occupied. He knew it was entirely ridiculous, but if he didn't keep busy, he'd start feeling a bit guilty. He knew well that the girls disappearing wasn't his fault, but he could help the stray thought that would pass through his mind that said maybe his 'actions' had made Kairi want to disappear for a while? As soon as the thought would enter his head, however, he'd chase it away, knowing that even if she did want to disappear for a while, she wouldn't have taken all the other girls with her. Would she? She shook that thought out of his head too and decided that he needed something to do before he made himself go insane. Muttering some incoherent excuse for having to leave, he wandered out of the games room and down the hall, not having any idea where he was going or what he planned to do when he got there. He found himself wandering the streets of Luca, ending up at the stadium. It was only standing at the steps leading into the stadium that he discovered how far he'd gone and that chances were slim to none that he was going to be able to make his way back without getting lost. And just as he'd predicted, he got very, very lost. He did have a good sense of direction, though, so though he took a very long detour in getting there, he did make his way back to the hotel. It only took him an hour and a half. Going to see if the girls were back, he glanced into the lobby and games room as he passed them; the lobby was empty and there were no girls to be seen in the games room. He wandered down the halls towards the rooms. Opening the door to his own room, he heard footsteps approaching from around the corner. He paid them no mind until he heard someone speaking to him.

"Sora?" The voice was uncharacteristically quiet, even nervous sounding, but it was still unmistakably Kairi's. Sora stopped, his minding rushing to figure out something to say to her before he turned around to face her. His mind still buzzing, he looked toward her over his shoulder, still frantically searching his mind for something to say that wouldn't sound too stupid or too blunt. Instantly, his brain seemed to stop working. She was standing at the corner leaning apprehensively against the wall. Her eyes were shooting around the hallway, looking anywhere but at him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him staring at her and found herself wondering what he was thinking. In truth, he was having a problem thinking any rational thought at all. For as long as he could remember, he'd thought she was pretty, beautiful even, but now, she was gorgeous, and impossibly so. Her eyes were bright, her little bit of makeup accentuating them the same way her outfit accentuated her curves. She looked nervous, but he had a hard time seeing how a girl like her could be nervous about approaching anyone for anything, much less approaching one of her best friends for as long as either of them could remember to talk. Then again, he was the one who wasn't able to put together two words in his stunned state. Suddenly startled by the rather awkward silence stretching between them, Sora kicked his brain back into motion and began to spew random and rather incoherent apologies.

"Listen, Kairi, I'm sorry for what happened, I'm not really sure why I did what I did, but I didn't mean it and I know I shouldn't have done it but I did and now I'm sorry so-" Halfway through his run-on sentence, Kairi interrupted him with a question that he wasn't expecting.

"Why would you be sorry?" She asked, slowly beginning to walk toward him. Having another only half-rational explanation already formulated in mind, he opened his mouth to speak, but stopped when he realized what she'd just actually asked him.

"Why am I sorry?" He asked, as if to confirm that this was the question she was indeed asking him. She smiled a little, nodding, curious as to what he would answer. He started slowly, sounding a little confused. "I'm sorry for, well, what happened before…" He said, his voice trailing away as if he really didn't want to talk about it. Standing right in front of him now, Kairi crossed her arms, her smile widening a little.

"I didn't ask what you were sorry for, I want to know why you're sorry for it." She explained, watching him expectantly. Sora opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again, not having anything to say. She could tell he had just stumbled upon an important discovery: he didn't have any idea why he was sorry. Thinking about it for another moment, he spoke again, only this time he kept his eyes on the floor as if he was nervous about voicing his answer, even a little embarrassed.

"I don't really think I am sorry," he paused, trying to sort out his words before continuing, "I apologized because, well, I guess I thought that's what you wanted. I thought that 'sorry' was what you wanted to hear." A bit more confident in his answer, he looked at her, but upon looking up, was slightly startled at how close they were. Now it was Kairi's turn to be a bit embarrassed of what she was going to say, blushing as dusty rose colour, but her eyes never leaving his. She couldn't help but smile a bit as she spoke.

"I didn't want an apology," she told him, her voice quiet again. "I, well, I kind of want another kiss..."

…….

Heeheehee! Not to blow my own horn or anything, but that's so cute! Sora and Kairi make such a cute couple! Make sure to R+R, it always inspires me and reviews always encourage new chappies to be posted sooner! Much luv and hope you like my story so far!


	23. The Falling Eater

The remnants of her momentary bliss rooted Kairi to the spot, her whole mind focusing on the tingling sensation still flowing through her body and the warmth enveloping her as she stood, completely comfortable, wrapped in Sora's arms as he held her close. She flinched at the feeling of his breath on her shoulder, tickling her. He grinned and scooped her up, carrying her down the hall. She laughed helplessly, unable to resist (not that she wanted to). At the end of the hall (and at the end of the hallway on every floor), there was a small sitting area and a balcony. Sora carefully walked over to the couch there and sat down, pulling Kairi into his lap. She giggled a little, settling into his arms and resting her head on his shoulder. She found one of her hands tightly grasped with his, and smiled. He rested his head on top of hers, and sighed in contentment.

"I missed you, Kai." he whispered.

"Me too," she replied, adjusting herself a little so she could look up at him. "So, how did you get to Spira?" Sora shrugged, grinning.

"Donald got us lost, and we just kind of ended up here. How did you ever get here?" He asked, finally voicing the question that had been plaguing him since he first saw her again. Kairi sighed.

"I was in the Secret Place, and there was that door, so I decided that I go through it."

"And you just ended up here?"

"No…I found these blocks and was looking at them and Riku found me."

"Riku? What happened?"

"He's…different than he was before. I think he's trapped in…well, whatever that place was. He knows all the ways out, but I don't think he can leave. He showed me a door and told me that I'd find people that would take me to you on the other side." She stopped for a second, wondering whether or not to tell Sora that she'd also been told that she'd never return to the Destiny Islands. Still unsure for herself what it meant, she decided not to tell him until she figured it out for herself. "I fell down some stairs and almost landed on top of Yuna, Rikku and Paine. I guess the rest is history, right?" She asked, raising her eyes to his. Sora smiled.

"It's amazing that we found each other. It was pure luck." He mused. Kairi smiled.

"Destiny." she corrected. Sora grinned in agreement. He traced the curve of her cheek, tilting her head so she faced him and kissed her tenderly.

"We should share a paopu fruit one of these days." He decided. Kairi felt a pang of guilt at not telling him about everything Riku had told her.

"I don't think so." She whispered before she could stop herself.

"Huh? Why not?" Sora asked, sounding confused and a bit worried. Sighing, Kairi told him everything, about how Riku told her she'd never go back to the Islands, and about how all the blocks had their names on them and how it meant that they'd have to sacrifice something very precious to them. Sora hugged her close.

"I promise, I'm not going to let anything happen to you again." He told her, his voice firm. Kairi snuggled closer to him, smiling sadly.

"Well, don't do anything too stupid, 'cause I don't want to loose you either." She told him. He smirked.

"Since when do I do anything stupid?" He asked. Kairi grinned.

"Remember the time that you fell out of the paopu tree because you thought it would be cool to climb the rest of the way up with no hands? And the time that you almost broke your arm because you wanted to jump from the beach house roof onto the bridge? And-." She teased, not finishing because Sora started tickling her. She burst out laughing, trying to squirm out of his grasp, though couldn't manage to resist much as her laughter weakened her. She grabbed a pillow as her last resort, and started to hit Sora with it. He lifted his hands to his head to block the pillow. Finding her chance, she threw the pillow at his face and rolled off his lap, falling with a crash to the floor. Pulling the pillow from his face, Sora made a face, having gotten a mouthful of fluff from the pillow. Kairi couldn't help but laugh at the look of disoriented confusion on his face as he tried to get his bearings in the room again. Someone's sudden yelling startled both of them as Kairi scrambled to her feet.

"RIKKU TO THE RESCUE!" Turning, Kairi saw Rikku starting to run to her aid and giggling. Another person entered the room seconds later and grabbed Rikku by the wrist, pulling her to a sudden stop and causing her to stumble backwards a bit. Gippal grinned.

"Looks like Kairi doesn't need much to be rescued." He observed, holding Rikku easily as she struggled to get free.

"Gippal! Let. Go. Of. Me!" She commanded, finally wrenching her wrist from his grasp. She was about to start towards Kairi and Sora again, but as soon as she was turned around, Gippal grabbed both of her wrists and, holding her arms behind her with one hand, grabbed her by the waist and rendered her completely helpless. "Gippal!" Rikku whined, giving up on struggling. Both Sora and Kairi had given up on trying to keep from laughing. Rikku scowled. Rolling her eyes, Paine walked in.

"Rikku and Gippal were supposed to tell you that we're thinking of going out for dinner and we wanted to know where and when you guys wanted to go, but they're both apparently much to preoccupied with flirting, so I'll just have to tell you." She said, her voice showing, as always, her lack of interest. Immediately, Gippal let go of Rikku and Rikku scrambled to get away from him. Both Al Bheds mumbled some insistence that they weren't flirting. Paine pretended not to hear and told Sora and Kairi that they were going to talk about dinner plans in the games room in ten minutes. She turned and left, Rikku and Gippal following her dejectedly. Kairi was trying desperately not to laugh, and as soon as she was sure that Rikku and Gippal were out of earshot, turned to face Sora. His face was all screwed up to in an attempt to keep from laughing as well, and it was enough to make Kairi burst out laughing. Sora started to laugh too, and it took both of them quite a while to calm down long enough to even speak. Kairi glanced down the hall, still grinning.

"You think we should head downstairs?" She asked offhandedly. Instead of a reply, she got a pillow in the back of the head. Spinning, she picked up the pillow from the ground and snatched up another one from the chair next to her (and, incidentally, there were only two pillows in the room). Sora was standing next to the couch, looking very smug. It took him a moment to notice that Kairi had grabbed the pillows, and once he did, it was too late and he found himself being battered with them.

"Hey! Ah, Kairi, no fair!" He complained, trying helplessly for a few seconds to block Kairi's attacks. Then, he paused for a moment. Intent on battering Sora with the pillows as much as she could before he managed to somehow return her attacks, Kairi was rather surprised when Sora stopped trying to block the pillows and watched her with a strange look on his face. Within moments, she caught sight of the mischievous glimmer in his eyes and prepared for him to try snatching on of the pillows away from her. Instead, he caught her by the waist and pulled her towards him. Kairi, startled, didn't even get the chance to resist.

"He-!" She started to exclaim, still battering Sora with pillows. Her voice was cut off when he tilted her chin up and kissed her. She melted instantly, dropping the pillows to wrap her arms around his neck. When he broke the kiss, Kairi looked away, frowning a little.

"Hey…" Sora whispered, gently turning her head so she faced his again.

"You cheated." Kairi said, trying to sound disappointed but instead, cracking a smile. Sora grinned back at her.

"Maybe, but you weren't in any hurry to stop me were you?" He asked, kissing her again and again. Kairi giggled, taking his hand and leading him down the hallway towards the stairs. They arrived at the games room on time to hear that Rin had offered to have them for dinner, since his shop on the Highroad wasn't too far away. He'd even sent a hover to take them there as soon as they were ready. Yuna grinned.

"He must really want to make up for messing up the machina." She decided. Rikku half giggled, half frowned.

"I'm glad we found out who it really was, otherwise you were gonna blame me!"

"Who can blame them? You're so clumsy, I'm kind of surprised you didn't mess up the investigation." Gippal said. Rikku scowled at him.

"I'm not clumsy….just a little off balance." She told him, sticking her nose in the air. Paine smirked.

"That's funny, you're never off balance on the airship. Are you sure you're not just clumsy?" She asked. Rikku frowned.

"Paine!" she whined. "You're supposed to be on my side!"

"Says who?" she asked incredulously.

"Says me!" Rikku decided, crossing her arms. Gippal grinned.

"Well, whatever the meddma bnehlacc says, goes. We should listen." Gippal said mockingly. Rikku blushed and glared at him. Gippal shook his head. " Awww, is Cid's little girl getting embarrassed?" He asked, walking over to her and slinging his arm around her shoulders. Rikku slipped away from him to go stand beside Paine, pouting. Paine sighed.

"Lay off, Gippal." she commanded lazily. Despite her tone of voice, Paine demanded respect and was considered an authority by nearly everyone who knew her. Even Gippal usually listened to her, and thankfully, this was one of those times.

…….

Reaching the bottom of the stairs leading from Luca to the Mi'hien Highroad, the group heard a whirring sound fading into the distance that sounded suspiciously like a hover driving away. Reaching the top of the stairs, they found the hover that was supposed to be waiting for them gone and the commercial hover starting up. The young Al Bhed driver motioned for them to get on. Yuna went to talk to him, but he shushed her and motioned for her to get on. She gave him a funny look.

"I owe Rin a favour, and if he's ever needed a favour it's now. You all get a free ride but be quick about it! And hold on tight!" He commanded, his accent thick. The group piled on, way too many people for the hover, but from the tone of the driver's voice, it was obviously an emergency. The man started the machine and the hover kicked off, accelerating at a frightening pace. They reached the store in half the time it usually took, and it was a good thing too. There were smashed machina everywhere, and Rin was huddling inside an old ruin, which was sitting precariously on the edge of the cliff. The fall itself wasn't deadly, but landing beneath the old ruin would definitely be fatal. Leaving the ruin, it seemed, was an even worse idea. An angry looking Chocobo Eater was crouched next to the ruin. It's hands were too big to get inside the ruin to where Rin was hiding, so it was shoving the huge stone wreckage closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. The hover pulled to a screeching stop. Rikku was the first off.

"I told you it was the Chocobo Eater's fault! Now he's back and breaking more machina!" She said, changing into the Alchemist dressphere. Paine got off next to her.

"I still maintain it was Rin." She replied, changing into Black Mage. Tipping her hat, she smirked and cast Focus. Yuna hopped off the hover, Tidus moments after her. She changed into the Songstress dressphere, rolling her eyes at Paine and Rikku's little argument. Kairi and Sora were off next. Taking quick aim, Kairi shot her disk at the fiend, cutting it into the hand that was pushing the ruin off the cliff (the other was trying to break the opening so it was big enough to reach inside). Roaring, it turned its attention from Rin to the people standing by the hover. Immediately, Yuna started to cast Brake Dance (inflicts stop). Sora and Tidus ran for the ruin, pulling Rin out amid the deafening sound of stone against stone as it fell down the cliff face. The three of them ran back towards the hover, where the driver was set and ready to get himself and Rin a good distance out of the way. Gippal slung how gun over his shoulder, taking full advantage of their moment to prepare as Yuna held the creature in a stop.

"This should be fun." He said. Baralai, standing next to him, had a hard time telling if he was being sarcastic or not. All of them, other than Gippal, were standing ready, Yuna still dancing. Suddenly, the Eater broke out of the stop. Yuna stumbled, swearing under her breath.

"That's never happened before!" She muttered, unable to catch her balance. Tidus caught her wrist, pulling her upright. The Chocobo Eater let out an earspilting roar and started towards them. Gippal started, fumbling with his gun as the furious creature ran towards them. It swiped at them with its huge paw. Kairi was standing just out of range. As soon as it passed her, she ran at it, using its lowered arm as a spring board to launch herself high above the Eater's head. Dropping to the ground, she shot her disk at the back of its head. However, the fiend lowered its head and her disk sailed clear over it. Baralai dove out of the way, shoving Paine away as well. The swipe narrowly missed the both of them as they tumbled across the ground. LeBlanc was backed away from it, preparing a spell. Nooj was standing just in front of her. They were the last defense before the Chocobo Eater could reach Rin and the hover driver, who were down the road a little ways, taking care of Rin's injuries. Sora and Tidus were both out of the range of the swipe. Sora shot almost a constant blast of fire at it, while Tidus grabbed the still disoriented Yuna, pulling her out of the way. Gippal, caught off guard by the beast's premature break from the stop, tried to dive out of the way, but didn't quite make it. The creature's paw caught him and flung him onto the ground, dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. Rikku frowned, glancing over at him, trying to see if he was going to be okay, but at the same time trying to keep her attention on the fight. Groaning, Gippal started to roll over to get up, not realizing how close he was to the edge. Rikku spun.

"Gippal!" She yelled in warning. He looked up at her, becoming suddenly aware of where he was and scrambled away from the edge. The Eater caught sight of him and growled, kicking out at him. Gippal reached for his gun, only to find that it was lying on the ground a good distance away from him. He swore colourfully in Al Bhed before he found himself suddenly dropping, taking his voice from him. Rikku snatched Gippal's gun up from off the ground before the fiend got the chance to smash it, running to the edge of the cliff. She could see him on the ground below, half-covered by the trees. It looked like he hadn't landed very well. In any case, there was no way she'd ever get down to him until the fight was over, and then they'd all have to take the long way around. She changed into Trainer and handed the gun to her monkey. "Take this to Gippal, and cast Ghiki Pep and Ghiki Meds on him. Go!" Immediately, the monkey snatched the gun from her, taking it in one hand, and began to climb skillfully down the side of the cliff. Keeping one eye on her pet, she watched the battle, taking care to make sure the Eater wasn't approaching. Then, some in the shadows next to the store caught her eye. There was a length of rope draped over one of the boxes. Sneaking around the fight, she grabbed it and headed back to the cliff. She secured it and started to lower herself down the cliff. Halfway down, she realized there was a little problem. The rope went only two thirds of the way down. There was at least a ten foot drop from the bottom of the rope to the ground. She groaned, then called to Ghiki. The monkey peered out of the canopy of one of the trees at her. "Swarm Swarm!" She commanded. The little monkey disappeared. Moments later, a dozen other monkeys like Ghiki appeared and scrambled up the tree all together to help Rikku the rest of the way down. Landing softly on the ground, she searched for Gippal. He was sitting hidden in the shadows, behind one of the trees. She walked over and sat down next to him, Ghiki dropping out of the tree onto his 'perch' on top of her head. Gippal gave her a weird look. She ignored it.

"You okay?" She asked, eyeing him. His breathing was overly heavy, but it was probably just from the drop. He shrugged.

"Not bad." He answered. "Pulled a muscle I think, but your little monkey dude fixed that pretty well. Not bad, considering the fall." He said, looking up through the leaves to the surprisingly distant looking top of the cliff. Rikku grinned. Ghiki climbed down onto her shoulder, down her arm and into her lap.

"You like Ghiki then?" She asked, still grinning as the little monkey peered curiously at Gippal. He shrugged and stood up. He offered his hand to Rikku, but Ghiki swatted his hand away, glowering at him. Gippal raised his eyebrows.

"A bit overprotective of you, don't you think? Considering he's a monkey and all…"

"Monkeys are just as loyal as anything! Ghiki's just as loyal as Kogoro!" Rikku informed him, standing up and letting Ghiki climb back up onto her head. (AN: Kogoro is Yuna's dog). She rolled her eyes. "But seeing as how Ghiki's making you uncomfortable and all…" With that, she changed back into her usual Thief. Gippal looked a little confused. Rikku frowned, pretending to look like she felt sorry for him. "Aww, was Ghiki too intimidating for you?" She asked, trying to look innocent. Neither of them were too sure why they teased each other so constantly, when is started or how it started, but it had been like that for as long as either of them could remember. Gippal was pondering just that when both their attention was draw upwards by a frantic shout from Yuna.

"Look out!" Even though her voice was distant and muffled, the urgency was clear. Both Rikku and Gippal looked upwards to find the Chocobo Eater tumbling through the air towards them.

…………….

Dun dun dun! My apologies for the crappiness in the middle (I'm talking around page 3 in a word doc). Ah well. The rest of it was good i hope! Be sure to R+R, for those of you who are looking for to RikkuGippal action, look forward to next chappie! (and emma, you look forward to next chappie too, k? wink wink nudge nudge)


	24. You definitely got me

The Chocobo Eater hit the ground with a crash. Gippal and Rikku drove out of the way, narrowly missing getting hit by the fiend as it fell. The ground shook violently when it hit, sending both Al Bheds tumbling through the brush. Gippal was almost immediately on his feet, watching the unmoving creature suspiciously. A savage growl caught his attention and he spun, just on time to see a vicious looking lupin leap at him. He froze, not having any time to do anything but brace himself for the attack. Instead, he heard the lupin screech as he was hit with a weight that threw him to the ground. The lupin's limp body flew over him as he lay in the grass; it was nothing but pyreflies before it hit the ground. Recovering from his shock, he looked at the weight on his chest. Rikku was sitting on him. He blinked, rather surprised. Rikku grinned.

"You okay?" She asked. Gippal thought a moment.

"I think so…" He answered finally. Rikku gave him a funny look.

"Why do you only think so?" She asked, resting her chin on her hands. Gippal shrugged.

"Well, I was about to get killed by that lupin, and then the next thing I know, I'm lying here with the meddma bnehlacc on top of me and I'm starting to question my sanity." He told her, smirking. Rikku grinned back.

"As if your insanity was ever in any doubt." She said. Suddenly, she scowled, realizing what he'd called her. "I'm not meddma!" She told him, pouting. He grabbed her by the shoulders and rolled over to he was on top of her. Rikku glowered up at him, pretending to be mad while she was really desperately trying to keep herself from blushing. Gippal didn't seem to notice, or he didn't care.

"You're smaller than me and you're younger than me, so I can call you meddma if I want." He told her. She opened her mouth to answer, but shut it again after a moment, surprised by his logic and the fact that she couldn't find anything to say back to him. Gippal smirked, seeing her expression of confusion. Rikku decided that it would be a good time to change the subject.

"Get off me." She ordered, pushing him. She discovered almost instantly, though, that her effort would be a fruitless one. Gippal relaxed a little bit, letting his face fall closer to hers.

"And if I don't want to?" He asked quietly. His voice made Rikku shiver. _What's wrong with me? It's just Gippal! Why am I acting so funny? _she asked herself, frustrated by the fact that she couldn't deny to herself what she'd denied ever since she'd left on the Moonflow mission. Ever since she'd left on that mission she missed him terribly and found out exactly how she felt about him. Of course, she buried that knowledge deep inside her, not wanting to admit it. They'd been what you might call rivals since as long ago as she could remember. There was no way she had any sort of crush on him! It was becoming increasingly hard to deny it, and as much as she hated to believe it, she knew it was true. That was the last straw. Rikku could feel her face burning, and knew that she was blushing so much that her face was probably beet red. Combined with her expression, though, Gippal thought that she was going to explode in anger at him, so he rolled off her, leaving on his arm across her waist. He never really could figure out why he teased her so badly, because he always hated to see her angry or upset. He lay there, propping his head up with his free arm, waiting to get brunt of her anger. She never exploded. For a moment, Gippal thought she was going to burst into tears. _Please don't cry, Rikku, please don't cry. I'm never going to forgive myself if I made you cry,_ he thought, watching her anxiously. As she stared up through the leaves of the tree above them to the first stars that were beginning to appear, Gippal realized that she wasn't angry, nor was she upset. He cracked a smile. He lifted his arm from her waist and turned her head so she was facing him. She frowned at him.

"What?" She asked irritably.

"Are you blushing, Rikku?" He asked, sounding amused.

"What's it to you?" She still sounded rather irritable. Gippal shrugged.

"Nothing I guess."

"Then leave me alone!" She told him, looking back upward, obviously unimpressed.

"No." He replied. Rikku rolled onto her side so she was facing him and glared at him.

"What do you want?" She asked, exasperated. To the surprise of both of them, Gippal grabbed her shoulder, pulling her closer to him, and kissed her. Rikku tensed in surprise for a moment, then relaxed completely, letting herself melt into his arms. When he broke the kiss, she smiled a little in spite of herself. She never dreamed that being kissed by Gippal would have felt so totally, amazingly _right_. Gippal smiled back at her.

"I want _you_." He answered. Rikku paused, her mind (which would be more accurately described as mush at that point in time) having to push itself back into motion. Only then did she remember what she'd asked him before.

"You definitely got me."

…………..

Paine, Kairi, Yuna, Sora, Tidus, Leblanc, Nooj and Baralai were all standing by the edge of the cliff, staring down into the gathering gloom.

"You think they're okay?" Sora asked, breaking the long silence.

"You'd think so…" Baralai replied, squinting. Paine shrugged.

"I wouldn't exactly trust Rikku to be the best healer in the world." She observed. Yuna nodded.

"That's true, Rikku didn't really work too much on her magic in general, but I guess she thought white magic was boring or something." she agreed. Tidus, hearing an odd noise, looked down the highroad. The hover was speeding towards them. It pulled to a stop and Kairi and Sora walked over to speak to the driver. Rin was unconscious. The driver had gone pale and they thought he was speaking gibberish. Baralai came over and started to calm him down. Paine glanced at Tidus, Yuna, Leblanc and Nooj.

"I'm going down to find Rikku and Gippal." she said simply, starting down the road. Baralai looked up, watching her go.

"Hey, Kairi and Sora, you guys can take care of things from here, right?" He asked, following Paine. Sora frowned.

"Not really! Baralai!"

"You can't leave, you have to help these two!" Kairi said, motioning to the two Al Bheds on the hover. Baralai paused, glancing from the hover to Paine and then back to the hover.

"I can't just let Paine go alone either! What if there's another Chocobo Eater?" he asked, sounding like he was at a loss. Kairi immediately understood and grabbed Sora's hand.

"We'll go with her." She said. Sora nodded and the two of them ran off after Paine. A few seconds later, Shinra and Brother arrived on the scene (Buddy was staying on the ship. They never left it unguarded after the little incident of the Leblanc Syndicate breaking in).

"Is everyone okay?" Brother asked, looking around.

"We think so. We're all alright, but Gippal took a nasty fall off the cliff and Rikku's down there too." Yuna explained. "Well, everyone up here but Rin." She added, glancing at the unconscious man in the hover. Baralai shook his head.

"No, Rin's just fine." He said, waiting for Rin to come to.

"If everyone is okay, we should go down to see Rikku and Gippal." Brother decided, motioning for Shinra to follow him.

…………………..

Sitting on the side of the road, Gippal cradled Rikku in his arms, both of them completely oblivious to everything around them. Rikku snuggled closer to him. After all her years of knowing him, she never thought he could be this gentle. Gippal smiled at her.

"My meddma bnehlacc…." he whispered. Rikku smiled up at him. Both of them started when they heard a voice.

"So, Gippal, into younger women these days I see." Paine said, standing on the road, arms crossed. Normally, both of them would have bee incredibly embarrassed, but these were not normal circumstances; Paine just made a joke, and it wasn't even sarcastic or cynical! No, that was definitely not normal! Kairi and Sora came into view a moment later, running up to Paine. Kairi hid a smile when she saw Rikku and Gippal, and whispered something to Paine. Sora, overhearing it, raised his eyebrows. Paine blushed bright red. Rikku and Gippal looked at each other, their mouths hanging open. Paine _blushed_? Just when things couldn't possibly get any weirder! Brother trotted up behind Paine, Kairi and Sora a moment later. It took him a moment to notice Rikku and Gippal sitting in the shadows. When he did, he boiled over.

"KAD OUIN VEMDRO RYHTC UVV SO CECDAN!" (get your filthy hands of my sister!) He bellowed. Paine smirked.

"It's not his hands I'd be worried about if I were you." She muttered. Brother freaked out, yelling incomprehensible things in Al Bhed. Rikku and Gippal relaxed a bit though. Paine was back to herself. Their sense of normalcy had returned. Or at least, as much normalcy as can be returned while sitting in front of five people, in the arms of the person you though of as your archrival until about five minutes ago. Rikku grinned. _My life's a little weird. So what?_

………………………

Kind of a strange note to end on, but hey! My sincerest apologies Emma! I know, I keep promising and not delivering, but I swear! NEXT CHAPPIE! Anyways, RR for sure, I love you guys so much! I'm thinking that this fic is going to be a 'little' longer than previously thought (and by a little I mean a hell of a lot) :P Well, tata til next time!


	25. Night and morning

Before we begin:

An explanation as to the hotel room plans: Just a reminder that the plan was that Tidus and Sora were to be staying in the same room. As well, the reason that Paine, Rikku and Yuna were staying in the same room was because Yuna and Kairi were supposed to stay together, but as Kairi was sick and all, Yuna stayed with Paine and Rikku in their room until she got better. So, as of this chappie, Yuna and Kairi are rooming together!

**To the anonymous person reviewed chapter 15**: I'm not sure why it's so hard to picture Gippal Baralai and Nooj hanging out together; after all, they were good friends in the Crimson Squad (with Paine).

**To AntiMusicMan**: About 'matching the last fic': I had another fic which had the same basic plot as this one, but as it was terrible and extremely bad, I decided to write this one instead, and I must say I really like this one better!

**To Cute-Kitty: **Yes, this fic will have a 'big' plot :P It's just taking a while to develop.

**To Emma: **My sincerest apologies for making you wait so long! This is the chappie you've been waiting for!

**To Through Darkness:** Indeed, all that is left is Painalai…. but not for long! Bwahaha…

**To all my readers! **I love you guys so much! And now, on with the show!

…………………………

The group arrived back at the hotel really quite late. Everyone looked exhausted. Yuna, Rikku, Paine, Leblanc, Baralai, Nooj, Gippal and Tidus all headed inside for bed. Kairi and Sora were left outside alone for the moment. Kairi, who'd looked tired a moment ago, seemed to brighten up a bit, glancing at Sora. He held the door open for her and she stepped through. He followed and the two of them made their way slowly towards their rooms. Stopping in front of Kairi's room, Sora kissed her goodnight. Turning to walk to his own room, Sora stopped when Kairi grabbed his hand. He turned to face her.

"I'm not tired…" She whispered. Sora watched her, only half-understanding what she was implying. Kairi bit her lip, taking his expression as apprehension. "Please?" She asked, slipping her arms around his neck and pulling herself to him. It was then that he understood and real apprehension flashed across his face.

"Kai, your shoulder…" He said. Though she tried to hide it, Sora could see her cringe as he ran his fingers over the still raw skin. "We should wait." He told her. She shook her head resolutely.

"I waited for two years. I'm not waiting anymore." Despite her commanding words, her voice sounded more pleading than anything. Sora paused for a moment. Then, grinning, he scooped her into his arms and kissed her again and again. Kairi had to struggle to keep from giggling. He put her back down again, grinning.

"I'll be right back." He told her before disappearing into his own room. Kairi's heart skipped a beat and she opened her own door and slipped inside.

A few minutes later, Sora stepped out of his and Tidus' room, and froze. Across the hall, Yuna had just left her and Kairi's room. Both of them stood stalk still for a moment. It was entirely obvious what the intentions of both of them were. Sora glanced around, raking his brain for something to say. Then, he grinned.

"I won't tell if you won't tell." He said. Yuna nodded.

"Deal." She answered. "Now if you'll excuse me…" With a sly smile, she stepped around Sora and stepped quietly through the door.

………Next morning……….

Kairi yawned. She opened her eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the light. It was still surprisingly shadowy. She tried to move, but found herself helplessly entwined in the covers. She could feel Sora running his fingers down her spine. She grinned, flinching a bit as it tickled her. She could feel the weight changing on the bed as Sora moved closer to her. He wrapped his arms around her and brushed his lips against her shoulder. Kairi relaxed for a moment, letting the warmth flood through her, then rolled over, catching Sora's lips with hers. Stretching, she looked over Sora's shoulder at the clock. She groaned, flopping back down on her pillow.

"Why is it so early…?" She murmured, rubbing her eyes. That was why it was so shadowy. The sun wasn't nearly high enough to be seen over the buildings yet. Sora shrugged.

"You could go back to sleep…" He said, trailing kisses along her collarbone, and planting one on her lips. She thought a moment.

"But I'm not tired…" She decided. Sora grinned.

"You said that last night, too." He whispered, grinning mischievously. Kairi smiled back, wrapping her arms around his neck. She just touched her lips to his when she heard a knock at the door. She pulled away a bit, paused, then decided to ignore it, kissing him again. Whoever was at the door persisted, knocking a bit louder this time.

"Two seconds." she said, rolling her eyes and struggling to get out of bed. She tried to stand up, but as she was still entwined in the covers, she fell to the floor with a thump. Sora looked over the edge of the bed at her.

"You fell out of bed." He observed. Kairi stuck her tongue out at him, unraveled herself from the blankets and pulled on the 'complementary bathrobe' that was lying on the chair. She stood up and wandered over to the door. She opened it a crack and found Yuna, dressed in the same bathrobe, standing in the doorway.

"Can I come in?" She asked, peeking inside. Kairi made a face.

"Not really." She answered. Yuna frowned.

"At least give me a sec to put something on!" Sora called. A second later, he came up behind Kairi, pulling on a shirt. Yuna had to hide a smile. Kairi turned to face him and giggled. His hair was sticking out everywhere. Sora gave them a funny look. Yuna was still biting her lip to keep from laughing.

"I'll come back in say, a half an hour, so that we can get mostly ready before then, and then we can switch back our rooms." She suggested, stepping back into Sora's and Tidus' room. Kairi, shutting the door, stepped up on her tip-toes and tried to brush Sora's hair back into place with her fingers. After about fifteen seconds of no success, Sora picked her up, to her surprise, carried her over to the bed and dropped her on it. He caught sight of himself in the mirror and recoiled. Kairi laughed at his reaction. Sora crossed his arms.

"I think I need to shower." He decided, disappearing into the bathroom. Kairi stood up and gathered her clothes. She was actually surprised at how quickly she'd got ready. She was finished and waiting even before Sora came out of the bathroom. His hair was still damp and only a little bit more tame than it had been before, but at least there was some improvement. Almost immediately after he emerged, there was a knock at their door. A second later, Yuna let herself in. She was dressed and ready as well. Kairi and Sora stood up and walked over to the door. Yuna was standing by the closet, dumping much of her stuff inside it. Sora kissed Kairi quickly, then started towards the door. To the surprise of everyone inside, Rikku poked her head into the doorway.

"Yunie, what were you doing in Tidus' room…? Sora! What are you doing in here, hmmm?" She asked, grinning. Sora smiled nervously, unsure of what he was going to say. Yuna crossed her arms.

"Take one guess Rikku." She said, stepping out into the hallway. Rikku followed, sitting down next to the door, pondering the possibilities. Yuna watched her, smiling. The young Al Bhed was wearing her usual enormous T-shirt, but she was wearing short bottoms too, almost completely hidden by her shirt. _I've never seen those before._ Yuna thought, shrugging. Rikku was still thinking. Yuna rolled her eyes. "You didn't seem to have any problems with making assumptions two nights ago, did you? Why the problems now?" Rikku shrugged.

"I only have one guess this time." She answered simply. Yuna gave her a funny look. Kairi was standing in the doorway of the room. Sora was standing behind her, his arms around her waist. Across the hall, Tidus opened the door. Seeing Sora with Kairi, he grinned.

"Hey, I was wondering where you were all night." He said. Sora grinned back. Something from within his hotel room caught Tidus' attention and he disappeared back into it. Meanwhile, Rikku had made her guess.

"HA! I'm right!" She announced triumphantly. "Yunie got it oooonnn…" She teased, grinning evilly. From out of the open door of Rikku's and Paine's hotel room came a voice. And it was _definitely_ not Paine's.

"Rikku!" It sounded like Gippal. Yuna raised her eyebrows. Rikku grinned helplessly and ran over to her door and poked her head inside.

"What?" She called back. Gippal's reply was more muffled this time, but still clear enough that Yuna, Kairi and Sora could hear it.

"What did you do with my boxers?" The three in the hallway burst out laughing. Rikku paused before she answered, looking down at herself.

"I'm wearing them!" She answered, grinning and returning to where Yuna, Kairi and Sora were standing. Yuna crossed her arms.

"And _you_ were teasing _me_." She said, smirking. Rikku shrugged.

"I wasn't teasing. Besides, I was going to say, before I was so rudely interrupted…" She paused, lifting her finger and sticking her nose into the air as if she was about to say something very profound. The silence stretched. Suddenly, Rikku slumped. "I forgot what I was going to say…" She said. Kairi glanced at Rikku's doorway.

"Where was P-." Before she could finished though, Rikku interrupted her.

"Oh, I remember now! I was going to say, great minds think alike!"

"Or fools seldom differ." Paine said, leaning against the wall behind Rikku. Kairi smirked.

"That makes you a fool too, then." she said. Rikku and Yuna gave her a questioning look. Sora knew what she was getting at. He had overheard what she'd said to the warrior the night before after all. Paine crossed her arms.

"How so?" She asked, sounding more curious than anything. Kairi smiled.

"If Rikku spent the night with Gippal in your room, then where were you all night?" she asked. Paine smiled slyly.

"I was being a fool." she said simply. Rikku burst into laughter at the fact that Paine had just called herself a fool. Kairi's smile widened.

"With Baralai?" she asked. Paine's smile widened too.

"Good guess." she replied. Yuna and Rikku looked shocked, both that Kairi had guess and at Paine's reaction. Had it been Rikku who had guessed, she could have expected to have been headless in no time flat. Kairi shrugged.

"Guess? After your reaction last night, it was hardly a guess." she said. Paine looked slightly confused.

"Last night? And just what was it that you said again?" the warrior asked, sounding unsure. Kairi grinned.

"I believe it was something like 'Everybody's got somebody except for you and Baralai. Interesting how things work out, isn't it?' That's right, hm? "Kairi asked. Paine was fighting a blush.

"I think that was it." she answered. Rikku gave Kairi a funny look.

"How did you know that?" she asked in awe. Kairi grinned.

"It was kind of obvious." she replied. Rikku glanced at Yuna, who shook her head.

"I never would have guessed either." she said. "How did you figure it out?" Kairi paused, looking for an answer that would let her skirt around the issue. She didn't like to talk about it. Sora could sense her apprehension and tightened his arms around her. She smiled, still uncomfortable about it.

"I tend to be more in touch with my emotions I guess." she answered. Yuna frowned, looking confused.

"Your own emotions, maybe, but you saw it in Paine, not yourself." she said. Kairi sighed.

"I can pick up on emotion, my own or others." she answered. Rikku's eyes went wide.

"Wow…how come?" she asked. Kairi decided that they should know.

"Because when me and Sora were fourteen, our world was destroyed by the Heartless." she began. Yuna nodded.

"He told us." she said simply.

"Well, when that happened, I had my heart stolen." Kairi began again. This time, Rikku spoke.

"But I thought that they took the planet's hearts or something."

"They take people's hearts too. So, for a long time, Sora chased Riku and me from planet to planet until we reached the end of the world. Something happened to me there than almost never happens. I got my heart back. Or actually, I got Sora's heart. But after so long without a heart and then getting one back, I became very sensitive to emotion. Some people have even told me that the way I feel affects the way others feel too. That's how cme I knew about Paine." Kairi explained. The three girls were speechless. Kairi grinned at Rikku. "So, I knew about you and Gippal even before even you knew about you and Gippal." she said. Rikku frowned.

"No way! Awww…that's not fair." she said, sitting down next to the door of her own room. Gippal poked his head out of her room, nodding to them.

"Morning all."

"Morning Gippal." was the generic reply. Rikku grinned.

"Want your clothes back?" She asked. Yuna then realized that Rikku's too-big-for-her shirt was not hers at all. Gippal nodded.

"Please and thank you." he said. Rikku stood up, smiling sweetly.

"Aww, Gippal's learned manners!" She exclaimed. Before she could say anything more, Gippal grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into the room, shutting the door behind her. A minute later, Baralai emerged from his room. Rikku's shrieking giggle could be heard from inside her room. Baralai raised his eyebrows.

"What's going on in there…?" he asked slowly. Yuna shrugged.

"Who knows?" she replied. Paine shook her head.

"I certainly don't and I really don't want to." she added. Baralai half-smiled, taking her hand. Tidus came out of his room and walked up to Yuna.

"Hey, what was that?" He asked, looking towards Rikku's room. Yuna grinned.

"Rikku." she answered. Tidus still looked kind of confused, but decided to forget about it. He tucked one arm around her waist and smiled at her.

"I never got to give you a proper good morning." He whispered. Yuna grinned, her eyes dancing mischievously.

"What do you mean? We spent almost an hour in the shower this morning…" she said, giggling. Tidus shrugged.

"Gimme a break, I was juts looking for some excuse to give you a kiss." he answered. Yuna raised her eyebrows.

"You need a reason?"

…………………………..

HA! Random conversation and flirting! Wooooooo! Next chappie: the plot thickens…. make sure to RnR! Love you all! PS: Be happy Emma! I _finally_ got around to writing what you were so waiting for!


	26. And we're off

Slam. Kairi cringed. It seemed to her that Gippal was going to put his fist through the door.

"HEY!" He yelled. "Wake up in there!" The eight that were awake were all gathered around the only hotel room door left unopened: the one that Nooj and Leblanc were sleeping in. It was Leblanc who answered the door.

"Need you be so loud?" She asked Gippal grumpily. Gippal shrugged.

"Hey, an earthquake couldn't wake Nooj, so you gotta be loud." He answered. Leblanc crossed her arms.

"Well you have just disturbed my very delicate beauty sleep." She informed him. Gippal gave her a look that said _I really couldn't care less._

"Where's Nooj?" He asked. Leblanc stuck her nose in the air and went back into the hotel room.

"Noojie!" She called. A minute later Nooj appeared in the doorway.

"Morning." He said, sounding rather groggy. "Up a bit early aren't we?" He asked, looking at the rest of them. Paine shrugged.

"Well, now that the two of you are up as well, let's get going." she said. Nooj raised his eyebrows.

"And this is coming from the one who would sleep in until dinner if given the chance, if I recall correctly…" he said slowly. Paine shrugged again. Leblanc now re-entered the picture, fully dressed and ready. Kairi glanced at her.

"That didn't take you very long." She observed. Leblanc smiled airily.

"I'm a trained professional, love" she said simply. Kairi looked sarcastic, and Rikku rolled her eyes. Leblanc stepped out into the hallway and Nooj disappeared back into the room, closing the door behind him.

"I'm gonna go wait in the games room. Who's coming?" Gippal asked. Sora, Tidus and Baralai followed him, leaving the girls in the hallway together. Leblanc smiled at Kairi.

"Have fun yesterday, love?" she asked, referring to the shopping day. Kairi, however, took it to mean something different and grinned, turning a bit red. Rikku giggled at her. Leblanc looked rather confused. She took a moment, but then seemed to understand and crossed her arms.

"Aren't you a bit young?" she asked off-handedly. Paine rolled her eyes.

"You talk pretty conservatively for the way you dress." she said. Leblanc smiled.

"Why thank you!" At this, Kairi, Yuna and Rikku burst out laughing. Leblanc started to look confused again, not realizing what Paine had meant by her words. The conversation continued and Leblanc learned of all that had happened the night before.

"So, all of you lost your virginity on the same night?" She asked, sounding surprised and almost impressed. Kairi, Rikku and even Paine grinned. Yuna said quiet, turning slowly redder. Rikku grinned at her.

"Aww c'mon Yunie! Don't be embarrassed!" She said happily. Yuna smiled.

"I'm not, honest." she answered, her voice whispy. Suddenly, she turned at looked at Kairi almost in horror. Kairi was grinning ear to ear. Yuna slumped. "Of course you know. You probably knew the whole time." she said. Kairi shrugged.

"Actually, I didn't pick up on it until now. You're really good at masking your feelings." Kairi answered. Yuna sighed.

"I was raised to know how to. It's no wonder." She said. There was silence for a moment as Paine, Rikku and Leblanc watched them, curious to know what was going on. Kairi was waiting for Yuna to speak, and Yuna was sorting out her words in her mind.

"Do you have something to tell us Yuna?" Kairi asked innocently. Rikku then seemed to clue in.

"Kairi, what isn't she telling us! You'd know, right? 'Cause you can tell these kind of things, right?" She asked excitedly. Kairi shrugged.

"I can tell what she feels, I can only guess at what she's thinking, although I think I'm pretty close to being right." She answered, pushing Yuna to speak. Yuna, who was turning redder by the second, sighed.

"Okay okay. We didn't all lose our virginity on the same night." She said. Rikku gave her a funny look.

"You…didn't sleep with Tidus…?" She asked, sounding confused. Yuna almost laughed.

"I did, but that doesn't mean I lost my virginity." She said quietly, her face beet red, but her blush beginning to fade. Rikku's eyes went wide.

"YOU'VE SLEPT WITH SOMEONE ELSE BEFORE!" She cried. Yuna looked horrified.

"NO, No! Not at all!" She answered. Rikku relaxed a bit.

"Then what are you talking about?" Paine asked, looking somewhat lost. Yuna rubbed her hands together nervously, looking at Rikku.

"Ummm, you remember my wedding that you guys crashed, right?" she asked. Rikku grinned.

"Tidus was soooo mad…" Suddenly, she recoiled, horrified. "SEYMOUR DIDN'T HURT YOU, DID HE!" She asked, fuming. Yuna sighed.

"No Rikku. See, after the wedding…" Yuna began. Rikku grinned again.

"I know, in Macalania. In the spring." Rikku said, teasingly. "Oh, how romantic!" she exclaimed, giggling. Yuna grinned.

"Ummm, after the rest of you guys fell asleep, me and Tidus kind of, snuck away…" she said, her voice trailing away. Rikku slapped her hand over her mouth.

"YUNIE! No fair, how come you didn't tell us before!" She asked, pouting. Yuna crossed her arms.

"I think you'd have been the only one who wouldn't have tried to kill Tidus on the spot. It was really important for a summoner to not be involved with anyone, never mind one of her guardians." Yuna said, grinning mischievously. Paine raised her eyebrows.

"_On_ your pilgrimage? My, my, my. Looks like our cute little innocent Yuna isn't as little and innocent as we thought." she observed. Yuna grinned.

"But I'm still as cute as you thought, right?" She asked, giggling. Paine rolled her eyes, but still smiled. Leblanc nodded approvingly.

"Indeed you are love!" She announced. Yuna grinned. The hotel room door opened in Nooj stepped out, almost tripping over Leblanc. Catching his balance, he looked at them funny.

"What are you doing?" he asked slowly. Rikku grinned up at him.

"We're sitting in the middle of the floor, what does it look like?" she asked, smiling sweetly. Nooj opened his mouth to speak again, but decided against it. If he was ever going to truly understand women, it certainly wouldn't be any of these women anyways. They were, shall was say…unique.

………..

One by one, ten people wandered out into the sunshine in front of the hotel. Yuna shaded her eyes and looked up, searching the sky for the Celcius.

"Hey Brother, where are you guys?" she asked. It was Shinra who answered.

"On our way to get you guys. Brother's off ranting again, so don't expect him to show his face on the bridge for a while." He replied, his voice layered with static. Yuna grinned.

"Kay." she answered. Rikku smiled approvingly.

"It'll be nice to have a break from him anyways." she decided. Paine smirked, nodding in agreement.

…………..

The group of them walked onto the bridge. Buddy and Shinra were sitting, looking rather relaxed. Buddy smiled at Kairi.

"Feeling better?" He asked. Kairi smiled back.

"Much, thanks!" she answered. Tidus was sitting on the stairs, Yuna sitting comfortably in his arms. Kairi was leaning against the wall next to Paine, with Sora and Baralai standing with them. Rikku was standing watching the clouds passing by with her hands clasped behind her back, not noticing Gippal standing behind her. Grinning, he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her backwards, pinning her against him. She gasped, surprised.

"Hey! Let go…" she commanded, but her voice wavered with the feeling of his arms around her and went quiet. She struggled a bit for a moment, then stopped as he turned her head towards him and kissed her. She all but melted. Brother was just stepping into the room. He caught sight of Rikku and Gippal and his face started to turn red with anger. He paused, tense and contemplating whether to leave or to kill one of them. Then, shouting in angry Al Bhed gibberish he turned on his heel and marched back out again. Rikku jumped when the near silence was broken by Brother's yell, nearly knocking both her and Gippal over. Gippal let go of her, holding only her wrist to make sure she didn't fall. He shook his head.

"Don't jump like that next time, hm?" He said, releasing her wrist. She shrugged.

"Brother's kind of scary." She observed. Gippal crossed his arms.

"You can say that again." He agreed. Kairi, Sora, Paine and Baralai were watching Brother stomp out of sight. Kairi was rather bewildered, as was Sora.

"What…happened?" She asked quietly. Without even having to look, Paine pointed in the general direction of Gippal and Rikku. Kairi glanced their way and nodded in understanding. Sora still looked confused.

"Why's Brother so mad? Gippal's not such a bad guy." He said. Baralai shrugged.

"Speak for yourself." He answered. Paine smirked.

"Brother's never liked Gippal from the time they were kids. According to Rikku anyways." she said. She looked back over at Gippal and Rikku. "Other than that, I couldn't say why." Tidus and Yuna were walking over, and Tidus wearing a sly smirk.

"As much as he'd hate to admit it, Brother's really overprotective of Rikku." He said. "Before we went to fight Sin, he asked me to look after her for him."

"He did?" Rikku asked, overhearing. Tidus grinned, nodding. Rikku smiled.

"AWWW HE DOES LOVE ME!" She exclaimed, spinning around. Gippal, not having heard anything but Rikku's outburst, watched her with confusion written all over his face.

"Oooo-kayyy. Not even going to ask." He said, crossing his arms. Suddenly, the airship jerked, knocking everyone off balance. Shinra stood up in his seat so he was just barely over the height of everyone else and able to get everyone's attention.

"No worries, everyone. Spira's a big planet, so I had to give the airship a little extra juice to get out of the gravitational pull." He explained. Paine looked at him, not believing what he just said.

"The gravitational pull? Come on Shinra, you don't actually expect us to believe that you got this thing into space, do you?" She asked, almost sarcastic. Shinra shrugged.

"Look for yourself." She did, and was taken aback. All that could been seen for what seemed like an million miles was stars. Sora looked questioningly at Shinra, who seemed to just remember something and went rummaging through his stuff. In a moment, he pulled out a gummiblock and handed it to Sora.

"Here. I've reproduced it, so I don't need that one anymore." He explained. Sora took it and stuffed it into his pocket. Buddy sat back, craning his head to look at the rest of them from his seat.

"So? Where to?" He asked. Yuna, Rikku, Paine, Leblanc, Tidus, Gippal, Baralai and Nooj all looked entirely overwhelmed and didn't answer. Sora shot one glance at Kairi and it was clear she had the same idea on her mind. He smiled, walking over to Buddy. He inspected Buddy's map and, sticking his tongue out in concentration, pushed a few buttons. Buddy sat up again.

"Woah, careful with the-." He started to say, but stopped when the engines began to hum gently and the airship began to move forward. In a moment it banked for a few seconds before leveling off again, facing a new direction. Buddy looked impressed. Sora looked up at the rest of the group. They were all standing in silence and confusion except for Kairi, who couldn't help but grin. Sora grinned back.

"And we're off." He said, slinging his arms around Kairi's shoulders. Leblanc crossed her arms.

"Well that's fine enough, but where exactly are we off to?" She asked, one eyebrow raised. The rest of them nodded in agreement. Sora smiled slyly.

"A little place I like to call Traverse Town. I want you guys to meet some friends of mine."

……………..

WOOOO! I finally got things going again. For a couple of chappies there it looked like we weren't going much of anywhere. Bwahaha! The plot is steadily (if slowly) thickening. RnR!


	27. Traverse Troubles

Eight people were standing, looking clueless, in the middle of the deserted square in Traverse Town. The other two were sitting on the stairs, shredding away at the minutes with a few words to each other here and there. Kairi slid closer to Sora and slipped her hand in his. Rikku bounced over, looking rather bored.

"Sooooo…Sora. Where are these friends of yours?" She asked. Sora shrugged.

"They usually come around here, but I guess we can go looking if you want." He answered. Rikku nodded vigorously. Yuna and Tidus approached the stairs.

"Hey, why isn't there anyone here? This town deserted?" Tidus asked. Sora stood up, shaking his head.

"It's early still. I wouldn't expect to see anyone around until sundown." He answered. Yuna watched him suspiciously.

"Why?" She asked. Sora shrugged again, giving Kairi a hand up.

"Dunno. It's always been that way at Traverse. It's pretty quiet around here until dusk." He answered. A voice made them all jump.

"Hey, Sora! What are you doing here? Haven't seen you in a while!" Sora turned to face the shop and grinned when he saw Cid's head poked out of the doorway. The man grinned. "Brought lots of friends I see." He observed. Sora nodded.

"Yup, but sadly, no Goofy and Donald." He answered, walking towards the shop, hand in hand with Kairi. Cid caught sight of it and crossed his arms.

"So, who's the lucky lady?" He asked. Kairi turned a little red. Sora grinned.

"This is Kairi."

"Not the girl you've been looking for, is she?"

"She is." Sora answered. Cid's eyes went wide.

"And you found her? What a stroke o' luck, huh?" He said, leading them inside. The entire group wandered into the shop after him. In the rather cramped space, Sora introduced them all. Cid scratched his head.

"Great to meet you all, really it is, but don't expect me to keep track of names." He said, eyeing each of them. Then, he seemed to suddenly remember something. "You know," he said, "Donald and Goofy passed this way only yesterday." He paused. "Actually, they're probably still here." He said slowly. Sora looked at him.

"Really? Where?"

"Hotel'd be my best guess." Cid answered, still thinking. Sora nodded, opening the door.

"Thanks!" He called, going outside. The others followed. Rikku fell into step next to Sora.

"So, who are we going to meet?" She asked.

"A couple of friends who usually stick around Traverse Town, Leon, Yuffie, Areith and Cloud…and maybe Donald and Goofy if they're still here." He answered. Rikku was silent for a moment, then grinned.

"Kay!" With that, she fell back to where Yuna was. Baralai was walking beside him now.

"So, Donald and Goofy are those…" he paused, not really knowing what they were. "Donald and Goofy were the two you were with when we met you at Luca, right?" He asked. Sora nodded, and stopped in front of two huge wooden doors. With a heave, he pushed them open.

"This is the Second District." He explained. "That's the Gadget Shop, the Dalmatians live in the house just down that alley, that's the alley way that leads to the caves, and that's the Hotel." As he spoke, he walked towards the Hotel. Kairi was walking beside him, her hand still in his. Her grasp went suddenly tighter.

"There's…something not right." she told him. He stopped.

"What do you mean?" He asked, sounding worried.

"I don't know, I just have a really bad feeling." She replied, almost whispering. Suddenly, she smiled. "Don't worry, it's probably nothing." She decided. Sora shrugged, a little bit on edge, and opened the door to the Hotel.

"HELLO!" He called down the hall. There was no answer. He pulled open the door of the Green room. It was empty. So were the rest of them. "That's funny." He decided. Gippal crossed his arms.

"So, where are these friends we're supposed to be meeting?" He asked. Sora shrugged.

"Dunno, they're not here. Probably in the caves." He answered, wandering back out of the Hotel and into the Alley. There, they found the entrance boarded up. Sora walked up it and kicked it in. Yuna looked apprehensive.

"If it's boarded up, they're probably not down there." She observed. Sora shook his head.

"There's more than one way down." He explained. "They probably don't use this one any more is all. Besides, this is the only other place I can think of that they'd be. If they're not here, we're either just going to have to go on a search, or wait for them to turn up." He said. Yuna shrugged in agreement and the group started into the cave. It was silent, and fearfully so. The cave was dim, dimmer than Sora remembered it being. Then, he stopped dead.

"You know Yuna, I think you were right. They're not down here. And there was a good reason for the boards too." He whispered. Everyone else was frozen in place. There was an enormous creature lying stretched out on the rock. It looked like a big cat, except that it had a handful of tentacle-like stingers coming out of its shoulders, and it was completely furless. Its red skin made it look sickening in the gloom. Slowly, the group stepped backwards towards the exit. In silence and what felt like a million years, they made it back out. Sora's heart was beating out of his chest. Kairi and Rikku were both pale. Paine was shaken. Baralai and Gippal were really jumpy. Nooj stood completely still. Yuna and Leblanc were pacing. Tidus was staring into the darkness of the cave entrance. It was Rikku who spoke.

"Wh-what was that?" She asked. Sora shrugged, shaking his head.

"I've never seen anything like that before…Traverse Town has never had anything like that before." He said slowly. Gippal look a deep breath.

"I think we need to leave." He said. Almost instantly, Kairi's head shot up.

"NO!" She cried. Everyone turned to look at her, surprised. "We can't leave. This planet is covered in fear. There are still people here, and we can't just leave them!" She said, sounding urgent. Yuna nodded.

"She's right. Who knows how many other…things there are? If we leave, we could well be dooming people to their deaths." she agreed.

"We can't leave them here." Baralai said, nodding. Paine nodded too.

"I'm staying." Tidus said, as if speaking in defiance of the creature. Gippal shrugged.

"Guess we're going big cat hunting?" He asked, smirking. A smile creeped onto Paine's face.

"Let's go." She agreed, swinging her sword. Yuna aimed her gun, half smiling. Gippal crossed his arms impatiently.

"What are we waiting for!" He asked, starting back into the cave. The group was enveloped in darkness once again.

"We need to see to be able to fight." Nooj observed. Leblanc smiled.

"I can take care of that." She offered. They could see the outline of the creature laying on its rock. Yuna took careful aim.

"One the count of three, Leblanc lights and we attack. Ready? Three!" In a blinding flash, the cave lit up. The people were disoriented for a moment, but, relying on the aim she took in the dark, Yuna shot. She heard the cat screech. In a moment, her eyes adjusted to the light. Kairi and the cat were circling, each tensed to strike. Paine was standing against the wall nearby, waiting for the cat to turn so it was facing away from her. Sora was standing on the dry rock, his Keyblade ready to shoot a spell, waiting to get a clear shot at the creature. Everyone was still, only Kairi and the cat circling carefully. Kairi moved suddenly. The cat reacted at shot out its stinger, only Kairi wasn't there. She's faked her attack and side stepped, shooting her disk. It cut two of the stingers clean off. The cat screeched again, Paine and Sora both move instantly, Paine cutting down on the backside of the cat, while Sora shot a stream of ice at it. The water around it began to thicken and harden. It worked desperately to escape the trap before it froze around its legs. Rikku launched forward, landing with both feet on the cat's back, and jumping from there to the dry rock. She'd kicked it under the water, and before it could reach the surface again, the water finished freezing and it was caught. Everyone stood still for a second. Rikku scratched her head.

"Think it's dead?" she asked. Gippal shrugged.

"Maybe. Either way, it won't be bothering us anymore." he observed. Yuna stared at it.

"I don't think it's dead…" she said.

"Why not?" Paine asked, traipsing out of the water. Yuna shrugged.

"There's no pyreflies." She answered. There was another moment of silence.

"This is true…" Baralai said. He kicked the surface of the ice. Kairi crouched on the rock next to it.

"I don't think it ever was alive." she said.

"Why not?" Leblanc asked, releasing the light she'd created. The cave dimmed. Kairi shrugged.

"You think anything living thing could look like _that_?" she asked with disdain. Sora shrugged.

"That's true. I don't think I've ever seen anything as entirely ugly as that." He said, looking rather disgusted. Gippal sat down on the rock.

"Well, anyways, dead or living, it was easy to beat." He observed. Rikku spun around.

"What are you talking about?" She asked angrily. "You didn't _do_ anything!" She shouted. Gippal shrugged.

"Exactly, because it was so easy that you didn't need me." He said. Rikku crossed her arms.

"Oh crid ib." She commanded. There was movement above them. They could hear thumping coming from somewhere above. There was another door, also boarded up. Sora kicked it in, just as he had the last time. It was a huge shaft, leading up into darkness. He looked back at everyone else.

"There's something up there, good or bad. Should we check it out?" He asked. Gippal stood up.

"It can't be that bad, after seeing how little that thing did against us." He observed, looking up the elevator shaft. Rikku rolled her eyes.

"Might as well." She agreed, still annoyed with Gippal. Kairi looked up the shaft.

"Hey, what have we got to lose?" She asked, climbing onto the flat stone sitting in the middle of the shaft. Sora climbed on next to her.

"We can't all go up at the same time." He observed. "Rikku and Gippal can some up with us. We have to go up in groups." He said. Rikku climbed on, and no matter how much they squished, there wasn't enough room for Gippal. Grinning, Rikku shrugged.

"Tough luck." She said. Sora smiled mischievously.

"Not so fast." He said. Kairi squeaked as he pulled her onto his lap, clearing space for Gippal, who sat down, grinning at Rikku, who pouted. With a jerk, the elevator began to move. It climbed slowly, and in about thirty seconds, they began to emerge into the Magician's House. It was brightly lit. The moment they rose above the floor, Kairi found a sword tip being thrust at her. She yelped, throwing her weight backwards. Sora leaned back, pulling Kairi out of the way and nearly knocking Rikku from the elevator. He knocked the sword point away with his hand, swearing loudly.

"Leon! What the hell are you doing?" He said angrily. Leon was taken aback.

"Sora! How'd you get in here?" He asked, helping Sora and Kairi stand up, then Gippal and Rikku. Sora glared at him.

"What are you doing?" He asked, pointing to the gun-blade that had been knocked out of Leon's hand. Leon frowned.

"I didn't know it was you. We heard a crash from the caves and figured that one of the Beasts made it into the elevator." He explained. The elevator began to slowly descend back into the shaft for the rest of the group. Sora looked around. The door that led outside was barricaded. Areith was leaning against the barricade, her brown hair falling freely around her shoulders. Cloud was lying on the floor, his head in her lap. She was watching over him nervously. The pink ribbon that usually held her hair in a neat braid was tied around his hand as a make-shift bandage. The Magician who owned the house was sitting on the bed, paging through a very old looking book. Other than that, the room was empty (most of the stuff had been used in the barricade). Sora looked around the room again. Something was missing. Then it hit him.

"Where's Yuffie?" He asked suddenly. Leon shrugged, looking pained.

"We don't know. She went missing a couple of days ago, and we haven't heard from her since." He answered. There was a moment of silence, and then Areith's quiet voice cut in.

"Wait!" She said, twisting around to face the barricade. Rikku had climbed on top of the barricade and was pushing a table just out of the way so she could slip outside. Gippal grabbed her arm.

"Don't." He said commandingly. Rikku stuck her tongue out at him.

"I'm going looking and _you're_ not going to stop me." She insisted, pushing herself through the gap and wrenching her wrist from Gippal's hand.

"Rikku!" He shouted. She landed softly on the ground outside, and, to her dismay, had pushed a chair off balance and sent half of the barricade tumbling over. When the dust settled, she put a finger to her lips, cringing.

"Oops?" she said quietly. Gippal crossed his arms.

"Good job Rikku. You sure you weren't the one who'd been messing with the machina on the Highroad?" he asked. Rikku frowned at him.

"I did not!" She replied, indignant. Paine, Yuna and Leblanc all came up the elevator next. Leon looked mildly surprised.

"There's more of you?" He asked Sora, who grinned.

"That's not the last of them." He answered. By this time, Kairi and Gippal had both also climbed outside. Sora shrugged. "I guess we're going looking for Yuffie. You gonna come?" He asked. Leon glanced at the three standing outside, and then at Areith and the unconscious Cloud.

"I would, but I can't just leave them here." He answered. Nooj, Baralai and Tidus were now just arriving from the elevator and overheard Leon speaking. Nooj leaned on the wall.

"I'm staying here too." He said, smiling roughly. "I'm gettin' too old for this." He said jokingly, stretching out one of his legs. Leblanc shrugged.

"I'll be staying here with Noojie then. You can run along." She said. Leon looked at her distastefully and stepped outside. Sora joined him a moment later, followed by everyone else that was coming. They all walked single file around the wall of the house to the front. About halfway, Rikku stopped suddenly, gasping.

"There's something in there!" She cried, pushing herself up against the stone, scrambling to get away from the dark water. Gippal rolled his eyes.

"There's not Rikku. Don't freak out." He said. Leon, who was at the front of the line, turned around.

"Actually, there are things in there. Careful where you step and don't fall in." he said, starting around the house again. Rikku rolled her eyes.

"I'm not going to fall in, I can walk you know." She replied. Leon shrugged, not turning around.

"I don't doubt it, but it's not a matter of being able to walk, it being able to jump." As he spoke, their way across the water came into view: a set of stones that they'd have to jump across to reach the other side. Rikku inspected them.

"They don't look that hard to handle." She decided. Sora smirked.

"Wait 'til they start moving." He said. Rikku stared at him.

"Moving? No way." She argued. Leon stepped towards the edge.

"Watch." He said. The rest did as they were told. He hopped down from the grassy stone foundation that jutted out of the water onto the first stone. He landed crouching, one hand on the rock. He didn't move for a moment, and everyone (but Sora) began to wonder why. Then, the rock jerked, which would have thrown Leon off balance if he'd been standing straight. One after the other, each rock began to move side to side. Rikku's eyes went wide.

"Oh." She squeaked. Gippal laughed.

"No problem." He said. He jumped from the foundation to the first rock. He seemed to have landed fine, but then stumbled for a moment. He caught himself, going a bit pale. Sora just shrugged.

"Harder than it looks, eh?" He said, hopping down onto the rock with him. Gippal shrugged in reply, jumping to the next rock, this time taking care not to fall. Leon was already approaching the shore. Sora looked up and motioned for someone else to come. "Come on." As he spoke, he jumped to the next rock. Kairi crossed her arms.

"He makes it look so easy." She observed, taking careful aim as she prepared to jump down onto the first rock. Slowly, one by one, everyone started across. About halfway to the other shore, Sora was getting ready to jump to the next when he heard a gasp from behind him, then a 'plunk' sound. He spun. Kairi had jumped onto the same rock as him, but her foot had slipped into the water and she was falling backwards. Sora grabbed her by the arm and pulled, maybe a bit too hard. He fell over backwards, pulling Kairi on top of him. Lying flat on his back on the stone, Sora groaned. Kairi rolled off of him and sat kneeling next to him. She watched him anxiously, chewing her bottom lip. Sora sat up, shaking his head, disoriented. She touched his shoulder lightly.

"Sorry. Thanks." She said quietly. Sora stood up, giving her a hand up as well.

"No problem." He replied, motioning for her to go ahead. She jumped to the next stone, and Sora followed. Other than that however, the group reached the other side without incident. They stood in the darkness on the beach, and Leon inspected each one of them.

"So, who are all these people?" He asked.

"Yuna, Tidus, Rikku, Gippal, Paine and Baralai." He said. "The two back at the Magician's House are Nooj and Leblanc." Leon nodded.

"I'm Leon, by the way." He said, starting towards the door. "Last time we saw Yuffie, she was in the third district, but, like I said, she'd been gone almost three days. She could be anywhere by now." They stepped out onto the street. Sora frowned.

"It could take…well, who knows how long it could take to do a good search of this place?" He said. He paused, then got an idea. "Cid!" He said suddenly. Leon gave him a funny look.

"What about Cid?" He asked.

"We could ask Cid if he's seen her. If she's been gone that long, she's probably been to Cid's." Leon looked as if he thought Sora'd gone crazy. Paine, leaning against a wall, shrugged.

"Sounds like an idea. It'd be a good place to start looking anyways." She observed. Leon stared at her as if she was just as crazy. There was a murmur of agreement through the group. Leon frowned.

"What are you all talking about? Cid hasn't been in Traverse Town for months. He packed up and left at the first sign of real trouble." He told them. There was silence. It was Yuna who spoke.

"But…we just met him, only maybe ten minutes before we found you." She said. Sora crossed his arms.

"Maybe he came back." He suggested. Leon shook his head.

"I doubt that. He wouldn't dare come back until he was sure that this mess had been cleaned up, and besides, there's no business here for him. There's no one here to sell anything to, and those that are here aren't exactly about to go browsing in his shop." He said. This was true. Paine walked away from the wall, swinging her sword idly.

"Well, if he is back, we can go find out why. If he's not, we can find out who or what it was that we just spoke to." She suggested. Leon nodded. Rikku smiled.

"Kay! Let's go!" She said, starting off at a jog towards the enormous door that led to the first district.

………………..

Ohhh this one's nice and long….and so full of thinking plot line! YAY!


	28. Watery fun, anyone?

Before we begin:

**To mitsuko and Emma:** Yes, Cid is Rikku's father. HOWEVER! The Cid that lives on Spira and the Cid that was in Traverse Town are different Cids (mostly because I can't think of any good reason for them to be the same person for the purposes of this fic :P )

………………….

In silence, nine people approached Cid's shop. Again, first district was completely deserted. This time, however, the group was much more ill-at-ease. They stood for a few moments in front of the closed door, each wondering what they would find inside, but each also not sure that they really wanted to go in and find out. Before anyone got the chance to say anything, though, the doors swung open, and there stood Yuffie, grinning and in all her glory. She looked just fine. Everyone stood completely still for a moment, shocked. Her grin ever-widening, she tackled Leon in a hug, giggling.

"Hey Squall!" She greeted him in her usual bubbly tone of voice. Leon was too surprised and happy to see her to even correct her.

"Hey Yuff." He replied, hugging her back. She kept her arms tightly around his neck and refused to let him put her down. Suddenly, Leon frowned, and with a sharp tug, put her down on her feet on the floor. He crossed his arms. "Where've you been? You can't just get up and leave like that!" He told her. She shrugged. This was rather surprising. She usually got defensive when Leon was upset with her. Instead, now she didn't seem to care.

"I've been hanging around first district." She replied simply. Sora frowned.

"But we were just here. Where were you then? There was ten of us, so you couldn't possibly have missed us." He observed. Yuffie shrugged again.

"I was probably upstairs." She replied, motioning to the ladder that led into the moogle shop above. She grinned again, and tackled Leon again.

"AWW, I MISSED YOU SQUALLY!" She announced. He made no attempt to get her off him, but rolled his eyes.

"It's Leon." He muttered, knowing she either wouldn't hear or wouldn't care. Sora sighed. Despite the odd way Yuffie'd been acting, at least she was still her normal hyper self deep down. Suddenly, without any warning, Kairi walked up to Leon and Yuffie, grabbed Yuffie's dangling legs and pulled her back to the ground. She glared at the ninja and pushed her roughly away from the group. Immediately, Sora, Yuna and Paine all grabbed Kairi to hold her back.

"Kai! What are you doing?" Sora asked, sounding worried. Kairi pulled gently away from him.

"Trust me on this one." She muttered. Yuffie was sitting on the ground, glaring up at Kairi, looking angry. Sora watched, helpless. Yuffie stood back up and looked Kairi in the eye.

"What was that for?" She demanded. Kairi glared back at her, just as intensely.

"Don't play stupid. You're not Yuffie." She replied coldly. Yuffie, or the not-Yuffie as Kairi seemed to believe her to be, put her hands on her hips.

"What are you talking about? 'Course I'm Yuffie!" She answered, indignant. However, there was something in her voice that made Sora believe Kairi. Leon heard it too, and it was the only thing holding him back from stepping in to protect his little ninja. It was the same fearful tone of denial that is often in the voice of someone trying desperately to lie convincingly. Kairi frowned.

"I told you already, don't play stupid! You're not Yuffie!" She insisted. Yuffie sighed, sounding angry.

"I really am Yuffie!" She replied. Kairi nodded.

"Yep, just like you really were Cid when we were here fifteen minutes ago." She replied, her voice slightly sarcastic. Yuffie took a step back and smirked.

"That's good, Kairi. You must be good. I was so sure that my act was convincing enough to fool you." The not-Yuffie replied, her tone almost mocking.

"Hm, you really thought a dead thing could pass of as living? And around someone who can pick up emotion? Nice try." Kairi retorted. The not-Yuffie frowned.

"What do you mean? I have emotion. That can't be how you figured it out." She said. Kairi shook her head.

"Any emotion you've convinced that you can feel is just thinly masked resentment." Kairi replied. Yuna joined Kairi now.

"That's right, the only thing a restless dead can feel is resentment. You're nothing more than a fiend." She said. At this, Tidus, Rikku, Gippal, Paine and Baralai joined her. They all knew the truth of what Yuna and Kairi were saying. Sora, digging the end of his Keyblade into the ground, glared at the not-Yuffie.

"So, what are you really then?" He asked. The not-Yuffie didn't answer. Leon was tense with anger.

"You're the shape-shifter. You're the one who brought all the Beasts here." He said through clenched teeth. Sora looked around First District at all the destruction.

"This is all you're fault!" He asked. The not-Yuffie smiled mockingly, nodding. Sora raised his Keyblade, but Kairi, the one standing closest to the not-Yuffie, beat him to it, lashing out and sinking her claws into the not-Yuffie's stomach. It froze, then stumbled backwards. Its skin seemed to melt in on itself, and in a few moments, it was changed. It looked human, sort of. It had an albino human body, but it seemed almost genderless and it was faceless all except for two beady black eyes. It clutched its hand over the gash in its stomach and stumbled backwards again. It growled, and launched itself forward. Kairi dove out of the way just on time. However, it caught her shirt and in a surprising and terrifying show of strength, it flung her through the trap door in the roof and into the moogle shop. There was a muffled crash.

"Kairi!" Sora called, running towards the ladder. The shape-shifter got to the ladder first, smashing it into a million little bits. Using the momentum he had, Sora ran straight at it, slashing at it. He missed by barely an inch. It threw a punch. Sora ducked, and only just. He could feel the attack graze his ear. Yuna shot, the bullet deepening the wound of its stomach. Paine was changed into her Trainer dressphere, and was edging, more or less unnoticed, towards the trap door.

"Go check on Kairi, make sure she's alright, got it?" She whispered to her bird, Flurry (?). The bird lifted from her arm and glided silently up through the trap door.

"Paine!" Baralai's voice got her attention. She spun. The shifter was right behind her. She dropped to the ground, kicking out with both legs. She caught one of its knees and tripped it. It fell hard, its legs flying up from under it, falling on its shoulders and head. Baralai dealt it a final blow to the head and helped Paine up.

"Thanks." She muttered, half smiling. Baralai nodded, smiling back.

"Anything for my dear Paine." He said, grinning. Paine gave him a funny look. There was a thump from upstairs. Everyone looked up. There was silence for a moment, as everyone waited to see if anything else was to be heard from the floor above. Rikku tiptoed over until she was underneath the trap door and stared up into it, trying to see through the darkness. Suddenly, she gasped, her attention turning to the ground. The shape-shifter still had some life in it apparently, and had taken hold of Rikku's ankle with an iron grip. She tried to pull her foot away, sticking her tongue out in disgust.

"Why won't you die?" She shouted, flailing her leg. Gippal looked like he was prepared to take the thing's arm off, but before he could do anything, a little blur of colour and fury swung out of trapdoor above, landing square on the shifter's back, shouting furiously.

"THAT'S FOR TRYING TO HURT SQUALL AND SORA AND KAIRI AND ALL THEIR FRIENDS!"

……………………………

Wham. _Ohhhh…my poor back…_ Kairi thought, wincing as she flew through the air and slammed into the roof. That thing threw her _hard_. Not pleasant. She hung there for a moment, but inevitably, the hang time must end, and so she began to fall. _Here we go,_ she thought, bracing herself and expecting to fall back through the trap door, to the ground two floors below her. She jarred and came to a sudden stop much earlier than she expected. So she wasn't going to fall back through the trap door after all.

"Ow." she muttered, groaning. _Am I dead? _She wondered. _No, I hurt too much to be dead, _she decided, groaning again. Her mind wandered a moment, and she recalled the last time she'd had thoughts similar to the ones she was having now. Slowly, she began to open her eyes, hoping that she'd find Sora sitting next to her again, so she could fall asleep in his arms again. _Sounds pretty good about now,_ she thought, smiling slightly. Once her eyes finally focused, however, she found she had no such luck. She was lying on a hard, dust covered wooden floor. She started breathing again, only just aware that she'd been holding her breath. Almost immediately, she sneezed, dust filling her nose. She sat up and stuck out her tongue.

"That's gross." She said outloud to no one in particular. As if in reply, she heard a scuffling sound. She looked around, trying to see in the lack of light, expecting to find some sort of beast. She sneezed again, shook her head to clear it, and kept squinting into the darkness. Then, she heard a muffled voice that joined the scuffling sound. Kairi stood up, looking around more earnestly now. "Hello? Is someone here?" She asked. There was a dull thump, almost too quiet to hear, and then a crash. Whoever it was just knocked something over. Kairi had seen the movement and heard the sound, and started to approach it. Her eyes were beginning to adjust to the light, or lack thereof, and could see a figure huddled in a corner. It looked like the person had been behind a pile of boxes, but they'd kicked most of them over. Kairi bent down to look at the person. "Are you okay?" She asked, worried.

"No I am not!" The person replied, her voice muffled so much that her words were nearly incomprehensible. Kairi knelt down and was suddenly able to see the predicament. This was definitely Yuffie, but in much rougher shape than the fake one downstairs. Her wrists and ankles were tied, and she was gagged. It looked like her mouth had been bleeding; her gag was covered in it. Gingerly, Kairi removed the gag. Once it was off, Yuffie licked her lips, and coughed. Kairi frowned, and jumped when a bird lighted on a box next to her. She stared at it, and it stared back at her. After a moment, the bird turned its attention to Yuffie, as did Kairi. She untied Yuffie's wrists, cringing at the raw skin left underneath.

"There." She said, letting the bonds drop to the floor.

"Hey!" Yuffie shouted. Kairi looked up. The bird's feathers were greatly ruffled, and Yuffie was glaring at it. She licked her lip again, as they would have been badly dry after going so long without food or water. She paused. They weren't dry at all. And the blood was gone! She stared at the bird in awe. Kairi, not understanding, watched in confusion at Yuffie's expression.

"What?" She asked slowly. Yuffie grinned, working at the knots that were around her ankles still.

"That bird fixed my mouth! That nasty whatever-it-was hit me good and hard in the mouth, so I was bleeding, but the bird fixed it!" She announced, dropping the ropes from her ankles and standing up. Once she was on her feet, her knees gave out and she had to catch herself on the box. Kairi grabbed her arm, holding her on her feet.

"We should get you back. You're weak from not eating." Kairi observed, helping her towards the trap door. As they reached it, they discovered the ladder was smashed.

"A lack of ladder is a bit of a problem, hm?" Yuffie said, dropping to her knees and trying to get a look at what was going on below. She frowned. "Whew, that thing's ugly." She said. Kairi grinned.

"It really is gross looking." She agreed. Below, it looked like the creature was beat, lying face down on the floor almost directly below the trap door. As they watched, they saw the others relax, and the beast stir. Both girls held their breath. It reached out, grabbing at Rikku and Leon. Leon stepped just out of the way, but it caught Rikku, who gasped. There was a stir of movement below. Yuffie frowned. Without warning, she pushed herself through the trapdoor, jumping feet-first down onto the monster. Kairi gasped, reaching out to grab her but to no avail. Yuffie shouted as she landed, and Kairi swung down to the ground next to her a moment later. Yuffie stood triumphantly on the completely defeated beast, while Sora came up behind Kairi, one arm around her waist, while the he ran his fingers through her hair with the other.

"You okay?" He asked quietly. Kairi, grinning, nodded. Leon was approaching Yuffie, who threw up her hands, grinning.

"SQUALL!" She squealed, giggling. She stepped towards him, but her leg gave way underneath her and she started to fall. Leon caught her, ignoring the fact that she'd just called him Squall, and helped her back to her feet. She grinned sheepishly and tried to walk toward the door, only to collapse again. Leon bend down and swept her legs out from under her. She shrieked and grabbed at him, her arms going tightly around his neck. Moments before she hit the ground, he caught her and picked her up, laughing silently at her reaction.

"I thought ninjas were supposed to always land on their feet." He observed as she slowly let go of his neck. She glowered at him.

"We do, but not when we're sick!" She announced, struggling to get him to let go of her. He started as if he was about to drop her. She squeaked and her arms went around his neck again. A moment later, she let go of him again and scowled. "Stop doing that!" She told him, frowning convincingly. Leon shrugged.

"Why?" He asked simply. Instead of replying, she started to struggle again.

"Let go!" She commanded. Leon shook his head, kicking the door open and stepping outside. Sora and the others had already made their way outside. Yuffie continued struggling until Leon shifted her weight and settled her into his arms to that she couldn't move.

"You're in no condition to walk, so I'm going to carry you." He told her, following a few feet behind everyone else as they made their way back to the Magician's house. Yuffie frowned again.

"I can so walk!" she argued.

"For about two steps before you collapse." He replied. Yuffie didn't argue, but instead started muttering foul things about him, but quietly so he couldn't hear just exactly what it was she was saying. Leon rolled his eyes and made as if he was going to drop her again. She squeaked, clutching at his jacket and burying her face in his shoulder. When she lifted her face again, she glared at him.

"SQUALL!" she cried scoldingly. Leon sighed.

"It's Le-." But before he could finish, Yuffie interrupted him, smiling sweetly.

"I love you." She said, grinning. Forgetting what he was about to say, he smiled back and kissed her. Everyone else was already through the door into the Alley before they realized that Leon and Yuffie weren't following. Sora looked around.

"Where'd they go?" He asked, confused. He knew Leon was not one to fall behind, no matter the circumstances. Rikku, who was standing closest to the door, skipped over to it and pulled it open a crack, about to look through it and yell for them to hurry up. Instead, she peeked through, shut the door slowly and turned to face everyone else, grinning. The rest of them stared at her, unsure of what had made her so inexplicably happy. Without warning, she tackled Gippal and started kissing him. He jumped, surprised, knocking her away.

"What the hell?" He asked, surprised. Rikku crossed her arms, trying to frown, but grinning instead.

"What?" She asked innocently, walking over to him so they were standing inches away from each other. Gippal shrugged.

"Eh, I ain't complaining." He decided, scooping her up and kissing her back. Yuna started to laugh helplessly. Sora grinned at Kairi and started towards her. She smiled innocently back at him, but when he got close enough, she pushed him into the water. To her own surprise though, he managed to grab on to her and pulled her in with him. She yelped as she fell, her voice cut off as she dropping into the water. Both of them surfaced. Sora was laughing. Kairi smirked and started splashing him. Trying helplessly to block her attacks, Sora grabbed at her and managed to catch her wrist. He pulled her to him, ignoring her protests and continued attacks. Grabbing her waist, he made to kiss her. She resisted, giggling.

"You're not getting away with that this time!" She announced, kicking away from him and kicking up a fountain of water as she did so. Sora grabbed her ankle and pulled her back to him, trying again. This time around, she barely resisted, letting his lips take hers and relaxing completely. When they broke the kiss, they notice Tidus watching them with mild interest.

"Genius." He said. The pair gave him a funny look. He grinned at Sora. "Kissing soaking wet girls. Absolute genius." He explained. Sora grinned back. Kairi rolled her eyes, half-smiling. Tidus grabbed Yuna by the waist and pulled her to him. To her surprise, he turned a little and, scooping her up, tossed her cleanly into the water. She surfaced and glared at him, trying to hide a grin. Sora nodded, impressed.

"So, that's how you do it without getting wet yourself then." He observed. Yuna grinned mischievously.

"Oh, don't think for a second he's going to get away with it." She said, kicking up water at Tidus. He tried to block it, and got only a bit wet. He grinned triumphantly at her, but a moment too soon. She sprang out of the water, grabbing his jacket and letting herself fall backwards into the water, pulling him in on top of her. He reacted, but it was too late.

"Hey!" He shouted, his voice cut off when he hit the water. After a few seconds, both of them broke the surface, gasping with laughter. Paine, Baralai, Rikku and Gippal were all watching them, extremely amused. Baralai looked at Paine, still grinning amusedly. Paine smiled back at him, daring him.

"Just try it." She said. Baralai shrugged, not making any move. Gippal sighed.

"You're a chicken." He said, pushing Baralai in. He surfaced, glaring up at the Al Bhed.

"What was that for?" He asked. Gippal shrugged.

"I told you, you were being a chicken. That's what chickens get." He said. Paine was trying to keep from laughing. Gippal glanced at her. "And you're no better." He said. Paine watched him curiously.

"How so?" She asked. Gippal grinned evilly, but didn't do anything. Paine only realized what was going on a second too late. Baralai had already scrambled out of the water behind her and pushed her in. She yelped, landing not-so gracefully. Gippal grinned.

"Nice." He said, high-fiving Baralai, who grinned back. Rikku, who was standing on the other side of Gippal from Baralai, raised her eyebrows at Baralai, who smirked. Gippal still had his attention on Baralai. Rikku lifted her hand and counted to three on her fingers. On three, she smirked.

"GO!" She shouted. Gippal jumped, not expecting the sudden flurry of movement.

"WhaaaAAA!" He shouted, stumbling as Baralai and Rikku shoved him forward from either side, sending him even more ungracefully into the water than Paine, who was floating lazily, smirking as she watched.

"That's what you get." She told him as he surfaced. He didn't pay much attention to her, but turned to where Rikku and Baralai were standing, killing themselves laughing. He climbed out of the water, glaring at them. Rikku stuck her tongue out at him. Gippal crossed his arms, glancing at Baralai, who was smiling mischievously. Rikku thought Gippal was going to get mad at her, but instead, he looked her up and down, lazily.

"You're the only one not wet yet." He noted, sounding as if he didn't care. Rikku grinned triumphantly.

"That's right!" She announced, sounding very pleased with herself. Gippal smirked.

"Won't be that way for long." He said. Rikku started to back away from him, watching him suspiciously. She backed right into Baralai, who grabbed her by the wrists. She tried to turn around to face him, but found she couldn't as Gippal grabbed her ankles, lifting her.

"Hey!" She shouted, completely helpless as she hung between the two of them. Baralai grinned.

"Ready?" He asked. Gippal grinned back.

"Ready. 1, 2, 3!" With each count, they swung her higher and higher until they hit three, when they sent her flying over the heads of everyone, shrieking and flailing, to hit the water. Laughing, they both dove in. Baralai surfaced a few feet from the edge, but Gippal kicked himself forward, gliding underwater toward Rikku. She surfaced and glowered up at the edge of the water, where she expected Gippal and Baralai to be, but weren't. She glanced around and caught sight of Baralai, but where was Gippal. Her eyes searched the water, but to no avail. She was on edge, expecting him to pop up any time, but was still surprised when she felt a pair of gloved hands on her shoulders, pulling her down under the water's surface again. She came up gasping. Gippal was floating beside her. She pushed down on his stomach, sending him under the surface momentarily. When he surfaced again, she was gliding towards the edge. She climbed up on the ledge and sat on it, beckoning for him to come over. He did, pulling himself up onto the ledge next to her. Tidus was sitting on the ledge a little ways down a moment later, Kairi and Sora soon followed. After a few moments, everyone was sitting on the ledge, talking and laughing quietly. The creaking sound of the Alley door opening drew everyone's attention. Yuffie and Leon were both standing in the doorway. Yuffie was walking, but only with support from Leon. They were both staring openly at the group. There was a moment of silence, in which the eight wet people grinned sheepishly and the other two people stared in confusion. Leon finally spoke.

"What were you _doing_?" He asked, still staring. Sora shrugged.

"We, uh, went for a little swim." He said, standing up. Leon decided he just wasn't going to ask. Yuffie, on the other hand, looked disappointed.

"You went swimming without me?" She asked, frowning. Rikku tried to keep from laughing. She spoke slowly, her voice full of mirth, teasing.

"You were…busy…"

……………..

RnR! Much love, not much to comment on. I hope this chappie wasn't too confusing for ya! Anywho, please please please review, it really is incredibly inspiring and can occasionally (if I be having a bad day) can make my day! It's so awesome to know people are reading my fics! Don't mind the swimming thing, it just kinda…happened.


	29. Clearing out

There were footsteps coming from in the cave, but due to everyone's chatter, it wasn't heard. Two figures stepped out into the light. One, Areith, smiled in amusement at everyone. The other, Cloud, stared at the sheer numbers of people sitting around, laughing and talking. He hadn't seen this number of people in Traverse Town in a long time. And the fact that they were all so relaxed, so stress-free. Even Leon looked happy. Then he noticed why: Yuffie was sitting next to him, giggling. He smiled a little, but at that exact moment, someone hit in the face with water. Sputtering, he looked around for the attacker. Sora, Kairi and two blondes, a guy and girl he didn't recognize, were the ones sitting closest to him and were all killing themselves laughing at his reaction. Areith tried but gave up on trying to keep from laughing, attempting to hide it by covering her mouth with her hand. Cloud crossed his arms.

"Think it's funny do you?" He asked. Areith grinned helplessly at him. To her surprise, he swept her up and started to carry her to the center of the water where he was going to drop her. That was his plan, however it was foiled with Yuffie came flying at him and knocked all three of them into the water, causing everyone to laugh even harder at them. Cloud surfaced, scowling. Areith surfaced a moment later and stood up, trying to smooth out her skirt as it clung to her.

"We came to see what all the fuss was about and to make sure you guys were okay." She explained. A brown-haired woman with strikingly mismatched eyes grinned.

"We're fine." She replied. Grinning at the blonde man sitting next to her, she continued. "Just a little wet." She added, almost as an afterthought. Areith got out of the water and rung out the bottom of her skirt.

"Well, Nooj and Leblanc were getting a little antsy, so we came to see how you guys were doing." She said, offering Cloud a hand out of the water. The blonde man with Sora and Kairi looked suspicious.

"Nooj said he was injured." He accused. Cloud smirked.

"It seems he just said that to get the rest of you to go away." He said. Kairi giggled.

"Looks like Leblanc was after some alone-time with her Noojie-Woojie." She said, standing up. Sora grinned and stood up with her. Cloud, looking around at all the others sitting there, looked somewhat confused.

"Where did all these people come from?" He asked. Sora shrugged.

"I like to travel in numbers?" He replied, sounding unsure. Cloud didn't look like he believed him.

"I've only ever seen you with Donald and Goofy. Three isn't exactly 'numbers'." He observed. Sora shrugged again.

"I'm not even sure of how we managed to all end up together." He said. "I met up with Nooj, Baralai and Gippal when their hover was attacked. We got a distress signal from Leblanc, and when we showed up to help her, the rest of the girls and Tidus were already there." He said, pointing out each person to Cloud as he spoke. Gippal wandered over as well, grinning at Tidus.

"Poor guy. Stuck with the girls." He looked at Rikku. "I dunno how he could stand you, Rikku." He said haughtily. She frowned.

"You seem to like putting up with me." She replied, crossing her arms. Gippal's grin widened.

"I like a challenge." He said. Rikku gaped at him.

"So I'm just a challenge then?" She asked, glaring at him. Laughing, Baralai nudged Gippal, who scowled at him.

"What?" He asked shortly. Baralai grinned.

"You're an idiot." He replied simply. Gippal threw up his hands.

"Thanks!" He said sarcastically. Baralai was still grinning.

"Here's a tip: flatter your girlfriend instead of offending her every time she says something." He said. Gippal sighed.

"It's not like I mean to!" He replied, exasperated. Baralai glanced at Rikku, half smiling.

"I think that's as close to an apology as you're going to get." He told her. She grinned.

"Good enough!" With that, she tackled Gippal in a hug. He wasn't expecting her full weight to be thrown on him again, and both of them went tumbling back into the water. Cloud watched, rather amused and a bit confused. He turned his attention back to Sora and Kairi.

"Where did you meet these people? An insane asylum?" He asked quietly. Sora and Kairi both burst out laughing. Areith hit his arm lightly, trying to keep from grinning. Cloud looked at her. "What?"

"That's not very nice." She observed. Cloud shrugged.

"But it's true." He answered. Areith shrugged, deciding that he was right.

………..

"Just what were you all doing out there?" Leblanc asked, mildly surprised at their soaking-wetness as they arrived back at the Magician's House. The barricade was back up. Leon smiled, satisfied, and ignoring Leblanc.

"You guys mind if we stick with you for a while? The beasts should clear out soon, but I don't think we should stick around while they do." He said. Yuna nodded.

"Shouldn't be a problem." She replied. Baralai glanced at her.

"What would Brother say?" He asked. Rikku snorted.

"Who cares?" She said, grinning. She connected her comm.. "Hey! Anybody there?" There was a moment of silence as everyone waited for the reply. Finally, Shinra's voice came crackling out, layered with static to the point of being nearly incomprehensible.

"We're on our way." He said. Only moments later, even before Shinra had ended the connection, the airship could be heard rumbling towards them. Rikku raised her eyebrows.

"That was fast." She commented.

"This planet's really small." Shinra replied simply. Rikku shrugged.

"I guess we wouldn't know. We didn't get to see all of it." She said. Sora cleared his throat and she looked at him.

"Actually, you did get to see most of it." He replied. Rikku gaped at him.

"It's _that_ small? Geez, how come we don't just go floating into space?" She asked, surprised. The group began to board the ship, one by one. Shinra's voice came over the comm. again.

"You wouldn't float away because of the density of the planet's core in relation to-."

"Right, I really didn't ask did I?" Rikku interrupted. Gippal grinned at her.

"Actually, you did." He replied. Rikku scowled at him.

"Whatever." She replied, unable to think of anything else to say. Meanwhile, Sora and Kairi had boarded with Leon, Yuffie, Cloud and Arieth, and were showing them around.

"So, how long you think it's going to be before the…things clear out?" Kairi asked. Leon shrugged.

"I have no idea." He answered. Sora frowned.

"Well, you guys do plan on coming back after, right?" He asked. The four of them nodded. Sora sighed. "Well, we've kind of made a habit of not sticking around one place for too long. By the time it's safe, who knows where we'll be, or how you guys will be able to get back here?" There was silence. This really was a problem. The six of them frowned, each turning the problem over in their minds. Just then, as they entered the bridge, Buddy spoke.

"Sora! You got a message. From some guy named Mickey." He said. Sora nodded. Yuffie grinned.

"Hey! We could go see what the King wants, and then you can drop us off there and we'll stay there 'til we can head back to Traverse!" She suggested. Kairi grinned.

"Sounds good." She replied. Leon was about to say something when Buddy interrupted.

"He wants us to go see him now. Says it's urgent." He said, pushing Sora to make a decision.

"Well, let's go see what he's up to then." He said. No one seemed to oppose the idea, so Buddy entered the co-ordinates and the Celcius kicked into gear.

…………….

A little on the short side, but whatever. So, here's the predicament: I'm going to be away for the next two weeks, so don't expect an update any time soon. Sorry this chapter wasn't a juicier note to leave on, but expect lotsa plot excitement first update after I get back! RnR!


	30. At the Castle

The landing at the castle wasn't exactly a pleasant one. The Celcius was an enormous ship compared to the gummi-ships that the dock was built for, so the airship had to be maneuvered near-perfectly into place so the group could get off. Sora was just off and stretching his legs a bit when a familiar voice called out to him.

"Sora!" He turned, grinning. Goofy was running clumsily towards him. Donald came racing out of the gates leading into the castle a moment later.

"Goofy! Donald!" Sora called back, waving. Kairi was getting off the ship, but tripped when Sora yelled and stumbled into him, sending both sprawling across the ground. Goofy skidded to a stop, tripped over Sora's arm and landed on top of both him and Kairi. Donald slammed into the pile of them, sending Goofy flying and Sora and Kairi rolling in a tangled knot. Rikku nearly tripped over them getting off the ship, only regaining her balance when she grabbed Gippal and pulled herself to him. Yuna grinned, climbing off and crouching next to the knot of arms and legs.

"You okay guys?" She asked, trying not to laugh. Kairi blew Sora's hair out of her face and sighed.

"Owww." She said, struggling to push Sora off her. Grinning, Sora grabbed her wrists and pinned her. She half scowled, half grinned. Sora touched his nose to hers.

"And just where do you think you're going?" He asked smugly. Kairi stared back at him defiantly.

"Well, I was going to stand up…" She began. Grin widening, he interrupted her.

"And why should I let you do that?" He asked. Kairi shrugged.

"'Cause you're nice?" She asked hopefully. Sora laughed.

"You wish." He replied. Kairi shrugged again.

"Okay then." She said simply. In one sudden, swift move, she freed her hands and rolled herself and Sora over so she was on top of him. Now, he was the one helplessly pinned. She smiled triumphantly. Sora tried to roll back over again, but she was prepared for it and only pinned him back down again. He pouted. She smiled sweetly.

"Nice try." She whispered, kissing him gently. Sora froze, his limbs turning to jelly. She stood up smugly and walked over to where Yuna and Rikku were standing, hardly containing their laughter, without a glance back. Baralai offered Sora a hand up. Gippal helped him up as well, shaking his head.

"She got you. You got your ass kicked by a girl." He said, almost with pity. Sora rolled his eyes, grinning.

"Nah." He answered simply, concocting a way to get her back. Donald was eyeing Sora suspiciously after that 'show' and Goofy was still re-orienting himself after having gone flying through the air. Giving his head a final shake, the knight-dog walked over to Sora.

"Heya Sora! The King wants to see you right away. Told us to take you to him immediately." He said. Sora nodded.

"Then what are we waiting for?" He asked, motioning for everyone to follow as he headed after Donald and Goofy.

"Wait!" Leblanc called. The rest turned to face her. "Noojie's not doing so well." She said sadly. This was true. He was limping heavily. Donald looked at Goofy.

"Take them to the library." He ordered. Goofy nodded. Donald walked over to Leblanc and Nooj, and led them off in another direction. Deciding not to worry about it, Goofy motioned for everyone to follow.

"Let's go everybody!"

The castle library was huge, nearly rivaling the size of the library at Hollow Bastion. Sora remembered it with a shiver. Kairi, who'd been walking close beside him, slipped her hand in his and shot him a curious, if not worried, glance. He didn't say anything. The King was sitting at a large desk. The moment she saw him, Kairi knew he was greatly stressed and something was weighing heavily on him. She also knew not to say anything if he didn't mention it. She knew from experience not to force people to talk about things that they weren't ready to talk about. He looked almost aged. _Don't feel badly._ She thought, a thought intended for the King. Oddly enough, as the thought floating through her mind, his mood seemed to lift a little. She knew it was absurd, but still couldn't help but wonder if her thoughts had anything to do with it. Her silent ponderings were interrupted when Sora's voice broke the silence. He spoke quietly, but in the heavy silence of the library, it seemed loud.

"You wanted to see us?" He looked almost worried for the King, though he tried to hide it. Mickey looked up and nodded.

"There's something you need to do. A job, as it were." He began. Kairi could hear Riku's voice echoing through her head. _You'll have a job to do._ This was it.

"What kind of job?" She asked, slowly and almost meekly. She had the strangest feeling that this was going to be the last thing she did. She shook it off, mentally dismissing the feeling as nonsense, but deep down, it still remained. The King nodded.

"The last stronghold of darkness in this Universe is becoming too powerful. On a planet called Fa'Diel, there is a goddess. Or was, I should say. She's been asleep for millions of years, taking the form of a tree. However, some darkness found its way to the tree and began to eat away at it. As a result, the planet literally broke apart, each piece taking the form of a charm, called an Artifact. You need to rebuild the planet and be rid of this last of the darkness." The King spoke almost prophetically. Everyone knew that this would entail great dangers. After all, it seemed that they would be taking on a goddess. Rikku, looking shocked and a little afraid, broke the stretching silence.

"Why us?" She squeaked. Paine nodded in agreement.

"Right, why does it need to be us? We've all done our part. We're all heroes in our own right. Why should we risk our lives _again_ to save a planet we've never even heard of?" She asked. The King shrugged helplessly.

"It's destiny. We can't change that." He replied.

"How do you know?" Paine challenged again. "How do you know it's our destiny and not the destiny of someone else?" She asked.

"Because you fit the prophesy. And she has the key." He said, looking at Kairi. Her eyes went wide.

"Me? But, I'm not a key bearer…" She said slowly, surprised. Mickey smiled.

"Not a key like that. In fact, you have two." He said. Kairi's eyes went even wider. The King continued. "The first is that charm." Kairi reached slowly up, touching the charm around her neck. Gently, took it off her neck and held it in the palm of her hand, staring. There was a long silence. "That is the first Artifact." Mickey said. Kairi looked up, ignoring the fact that everyone else was staring at her.

"And the other key?" She asked quietly. The King smiled again.

"Your voice."

………

A bit on the short side again, but I know I haven't updated for two weeks so I had to post for you guys! Read and Review! Hooray for reaching 30 chappies!


	31. Let's be on our way

Kairi was sitting in the court yard under the shade of a tree, pouting. Sighing, she recalled the King's explanation.

_"You have a very special talent, Kairi."_

_"What kind of talent?"_

_"You know you have an acute sense of emotion, from having your heart stolen. It also gave you another ability. You can inflict your emotions upon others."_

_"...I can? How?"_

_"Sing."_

_"...I'm sorry?"_

_"Your voice can express emotion unlike any other when you sing. I'm sure you've heard a moving song before?"_

_"...yes..."_

_"Well, think of this: if you were even the least bit sad, anyone who heard you sing would be hard pressed not to cry. If you were happy, you could lift the spirits of person who a moment before thought there was no hope left."_

_"...wow...but how is that going to help anyone?"_

_"The Heartless are just that. Without heart. They can't feel emotion, so if you were to inflict emotion upon them, their existance would be turned upside down. It would essentially render them powerless."_

_"I thought the Heartless were all gone."_

_"They are, mostly, but this goddess, having had her heart eaten away at by the darkness, is nearly a Heartless herself."_

_"...oh."_

Immensly confused, Kairi had left the library with the others and managed to slip away unnoticed to the courtyard. She needed to think. A quiet voice from just behind her brought her back to reality.

"Kai?" It was Sora. She'd recognize his voice anywhere, and besides, he was the only one who ever called her 'Kai'.

"Hey Sora." She greeted him half-heartedly. He sat down next to her and watched her intently.

"Are you okay?" He asked after a long pause. She contemplated her possible answers. She could tell him she was okay in a miserable attempt to keep him from worrying, she could just not say anything and hope he took no news as good news or she could mumble some incoherent thing and see if he would take it as a yes. She sighed, not liking her choices.

"Do you want the answer that will hopefully keep you from worrying about me or the honest truth?" She asked dejectedly. Sora frowned, putting one arm around her.

"Kai...it's gonna be okay." He whispered into her hair. She snuggled closer to him.

"I have this terrible feeling about it all." She murmured. Suddenly, she looked up at him, her eyes full of fear. "Sora, I don't want to go!"

"Hey, hey, shhh." He whispered comfortingly as he cradled her in his arms. _What could be wrong? I've never seen her act like this before._ "What's the matter?"

"Remember I told you what Riku said?"

"About not going back to the Islands?"

" I can't help but think it's because we're going to..." she paused, her throat not willing to let the word come out. Sora watched her intently, waiting for her to finish. She looked up at him. "I, I don't wanna die..." she murmured. Sora's arms tightened around her.

"I promise I won't let anything happen to you." He whispered in reply.

"I know it's dumb, but I can't help it. I dunno, I just have this really bad feeling. I'm probably just being paranoid." She said, looking off into the distance. She saw Yuna and Tidus coming towards them. Yuna smiled when she saw them, and looked around a corner and called out to someone just out of Kairi's vision. A few moments later, Paine came around the corner, followed closely by Rikku, who seemed to be annoying the hell out of the poor warrior. Gippal and Baralai came around the corner too, Gippal beginning to tease Rikku about god knows what. Kairi and Sora stood up to meet them. Shading her face from the sunshine, Kairi smiled.

"So? What's up?" She asked. She knew that everyone had gone off to check up on the arrangements for Leon, Yuffie, Areith and Cloud. Tidus grinned.

"It's all good! Nooj seems to be feeling a bit better too, though Leblanc's still fussing over him. Poor guy." He answered, laughing. Sora crossed his arms.

"We might as well wait 'til morning to leave." He observed. "What do you guys want to do for the rest of the day?" He asked, looking at each of them. Gippal grinned.

"Seems to me you would have been quite comfortable spending the rest of the day under that tree there." He said. Kairi grinned.

"But if he did that, then I'd be too busy to save Rikku from you." She noted. Grinning even wider, Gippal grabbed Rikku around the waist, lifting her from the ground as she yelped and giggled. Paine watched them passively.

"I don't think she much wants to be saved." She observed lazily. Kairi grinned at Sora.

"Then I guess I'm free to spend my day with you." She said, her eyes dancing. Sora grinned back at her.

"Well, it's good that you're feeling better." He told her.

"How could I not, with you around to comfort me?" She asked, her voice almost teasing. Sora's arms went around her waist, smiling mischievously.

"Well, I could comfort you some more…" he offered with a sly smile.

"BLEH!" Both of them looked to see what had made that odd noise. Rikku was making a funny face, her tongue stuck out. "Oh get a room, would ya?" She said, sounding thoroughly disgusted. Gippal grinned at her.

"And while we're at it, let's get one ourselves, eh?" He suggested. Rikku giggled. Paine rolled her eyes. Yuna sighed.

"Come on Paine! Have a little fun!" She ordered. Paine shrugged.

"Depends on what you consider to be fun." she replied. Kairi grinned evilly.

"C'mon Paine! Be a fool! I know you thought it was pretty good last time…" she observed. Paine didn't answer, but began to blush profusely. Baralai grinned.

"Dear Paine, you're not _blushing_, are you?" he asked over-dramatically.

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not, why do you ask?" Her reply was surprisingly quiet. Gippal smirked.

"'Cuz Baralai thinks it's hot." He said simply. Rikku, Yuna, Tidus, Kairi, and Sora all burst out laughing. Now it was Baralai's turn to go red.

………..Next day……….

Kairi and Rikku were lying on their backs on the deck of the airship, staring up into the sky as Celcius sped through the clouds. Kairi had her charm in her hand. She sat up and dropped it on Rikku's stomach.

"What do you think I should do with it?" She asked. Rikku looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, there's supposed to be a piece of a world trapped in it, but how do you think I'm supposed to get it out?" she asked again. Rikku shrugged.

"I dunno." she answered, looking back up at the clouds. She grinned. "Hey, that one kinda looks like a piggy." She decided, pointing. Kairi grinned at looked up at it.

"I think it looks like a palm tree." She answered. Rikku frowned.

"But a palm tree and a piggy don't look the same at all…" she noted. Kairi started to laugh, flopping back down on her back. Suddenly, the bright sky and sun were blocked out by a head right over hers.

"Boo." She yelped in surprise and rolled away. Sora was sitting cross legged on the ground, looking very pleased with himself. Kairi glowered at him.

"What was that for?" She asked. Sora shrugged.

"Nothing I guess." he answered simply. Kairi sighed. Rikku was trying desperately not to laugh. Kairi grinned at her.

"What's so funny?" She asked, sounding rather amused herself. Rikku didn't answer. Sora stood up and brushed himself off.

"Well, I was sent up to tell you guys that you're needed on the bridge." He told them. Kairi took his hand and he pulled her to her feet. Rikku was already getting on the elevator. Kairi started towards the elevator, but Sora grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back to him, smiling slyly. Kairi grinned.

"You didn't by chance say that just to get Rikku to go away, did you?" she asked off-handedly. Sora's smile widened.

"You know me to well." He decided, pushing her hair out of her face. Kairi sat down, pulling Sora down next to her.

"I hope Nooj will be okay." She said. It had been decided that Nooj was not fit to join them on this new 'job' and Leblanc had refused to go anywhere without him, and as such, both had stayed behind. Sora shrugged.

"He said he was getting too old. He didn't seem that old to me." He observed. Kairi gave him a funny look.

"His hair was going grey. How didn't he look old?" She asked disbelievingly. Sora shrugged again, pulling her into his lap with a grin.

Back on the bridge, Rikku was just walking in when she found Brother laughing his head off. She blinked. She'd forgotten about Brother. Had he really been off in some corner sulking this whole time?

"Hey Brother, where've you been?" She asked, walking over to him. He didn't answer, just kept laughing. She raised an eyebrow, looking at Paine. Paine shrugged.

"I have no idea what he finds so funny. I didn't get here until a few minutes ago. He hasn't calmed down enough to tell us yet." She explained. Shinra stood up in his seat.

"Brother's laughing because Cid is going crazy." He said simply. Rikku's interest immediately became apparent.

"Pop's freaking out? 'Bout what?" She asked curiously. Shinra sat back down, hitting a bunch of buttons on his computer.

"About the fact that the Celcius has disappeared off the face of Spira." He answered. A moment later, a video flickered onto the screen. It was Cid, standing in the middle of the Djose Temple, yelling his head off. Rikku started to laugh. Paine even snickered. He was so upset that he was in no way understandable. Rikku started to laugh even harder a moment later, and she started to snort in her laughter. Neither Paine or Shinra had caught what she'd heard and watched her curiously. With tears of laughter still streaming out of her eyes, she hiccupped and calmed down enough to speak.

"He, he thinks, he thinks Gippal's, carried me off somewhere." She answered between fits of laughter. Gippal, who'd been sitting not far away, grinned.

"I didn't carry you off, you followed me willingly." He said. Rikku looked at him, crossing her arms.

"Excuse me? Last time I checked, this was _my_ ship, not yours. _You_ followed _me_." She replied. Gippal shrugged.

"Whatever." He muttered. Rikku sat down next to him in a huff. He grinned at her. "Why do you let the things I say get to you?" he asked offhandedly. She stared at him.

"_That_ was a weird question." Smiling, he just shrugged again.

"I'm a weird person." He answered simply.

"You're a cute person." She told him with a grin. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Right. How about you don't say that again." He ordered. Rikku's grin widened.

"But you _are_ cute!" She exclaimed. Gippal stared her down.

"What did I just say?" He asked threateningly. Rikku giggled.

"You don't scare me." She told him. He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeh?" In one quick move, he grabbed her, pulled her onto his lap and rendered her helpless in his arms. "How 'bout now?" He asked, grinning. Rikku grinned back.

"Not yet." She said in a sing-songy voice. With an evil smile, he started to tickle her. She yelped, trying to flail but only found herself helplessly pinned.

"Now?" He asked. Rikku giggled.

"Not yet." She replied in the same tone of voice as before. He started to trail kisses from her shoulder to her neck, then up to her lips.

"Now?" He asked, this time his voice growing quiet. Rikku grinned.

"Getting there…" she said, her tone turning teasing.

"Get a room." Paine said, looking thoroughly disgusted. Gippal looked at her.

"You're just jealous because Baralai doesn't do this kind of stuff with you." He observed. Paine crossed her arms, about to speak, but Baralai spoke first.

"Is that a challenge, Gippal?" He asked, grinning. Gippal nodded.

"Absolutely." He replied, deciding he wanted to see how this was going to turn out. With almost no warning, Baralai grabbed Paine and kissed her. Paine was surprised, but certainly didn't resist. Tidus and Yuna, who were sitting on the stairs above Gippal and Rikku, both had to bite their tongues to keep from laughing. When Baralai broke away, Paine turned bright red. Rikku was laughing helplessly, though it was hard to tell whether it was from Paine's reaction or because Gippal had started tickling her again. A moment later, Sora and Kairi walked into the room, hand in hand, Kairi smoothing her hair and her cheeks a bit red. Rikku caught sight of them and looked at them suspiciously.

"Hey, what took you guys so long?" she asked, eyeing both of them. Kairi grinned in reply, Sora muttered something incomprehensible and ran his fingers through his hair, smiling sheepishly. Tidus watched the pair suspiciously and then looked at Rikku, grinning.

"I don't think we really want to know what they've been doing, do we?" He asked, turning his attention back to Sora and Kairi. Kairi grinned.

"No, probably not." She admitted, weaving her way down the stairs around the two couples, Sora following close behind.


	32. A very big explosion

It was so dark. And cold. The lonely planet, as large as it was, was almost invisible against the darkness. There was no sun to warm or light it, and even on the ship as they began to land, it seemed like a cold breath had settled a permanent chill over everyone. Sora and Kairi were the first to get off the ship. They had their arms tight around each other, trying to block out the cold. Kairi shivered. Sora adjusted his arms around her, looking out towards the pitch black horizon.

"This must be what a planet is like once the Heartless have gotten hold of its heart" he observed quietly. Rikku and Gippal were off next. Rikku hugged herself, shivering a little.

"I don't like this place." She said, looking uncomfortable. Gippal came up behind her and started to rub her arms, trying to warm her up a little. Yuna and Tidus came a moment later, huddled together, followed closely by Baralai and Paine. Slowly, each of the couples parted. Their efforts to keep warm weren't going to work. The air itself wasn't cold, but the unending darkness chilled the soul. Kairi was holding her charm tight in her fist, her finger nails digging into her palm. Sora was looking out into the distance, trying to find the horizon. He squinted. There didn't seem to be one. The dark ground just melted into the dark sky. This cold feeling, he knew he had it once before, but where? Suddenly, the image of Riku disappearing into the darkness flashed before his eyes. He gasped. That was the time he'd felt darkness like this before. Kairi spun to face him, hearing his gasp.

"Are you okay?" She asked, sounding worried. Her fist loosened a little. Though one would think that it would have been an impossibility, as Kairi's hand was still fairly tight, the charm managed to slip through her fingers, as if it wanted to fall way from her. She felt the weight dropping in the black ribbon that held it. Her fingers tighten again, just keeping her from dropping it. Oddly enough, though the ribbon had never shown any sign of weakness, it tore easily away as if it was tissue paper. The charm dropped. Kairi grabbed at it, but missed. It hit the ground, and though no one had been expecting anything of great consequence to happen, a huge explosion rocked the planet to its core, throwing everyone back from it. Panic and surprise struck Kairi, and her first reaction was to cover her face with her hands, trying to tame her beating heart before she lost control of herself. Suddenly, she realized that she was thrown much too far to have a safe landing, that she would be seriously injured once she hit the rocky ground. Bracing herself for the fall, she stopped very suddenly. Something raked at her back and arms. She covered her head as she slowed with a crunch in something very high up and rather sharp. She came to a sudden stop as she hit something oddly soft, fuzzy and a bit wet. Once she was sure she came to a full stop, she let herself breathe again. Her heart had jumped into her throat and she didn't realize how hard she was fighting to keep control of herself. Lifting her head a little, she tried to get her bearings. Her eyes widened. She was caught in an enormous tree, and she had hit a very large peach in the shape of a cat's head. There was a pear just below that looked like a boot. And a bunch of bananas in a flower shape to her left. Her panic wasn't leaving her and she knew that if she didn't calm down soon she'd be in a bit of trouble, but that definitely didn't stop her from staring at her surroundings. She yelped, her panic heightening when the crack of a breaking branch signaled her fall. Her support dropped out from under her and she tumbled through the branches towards the ground. The branches slowed her enough that she hit the ground with a thud, but no injuries to speak of. She curled herself up in a little ball, holding her head in her hands, forcing her ragged breath to slow. _No no no! Kairi, calm down! Calm! Don't let it control you! _She thought frantically. She tried desperately, but she knew it was too late. She was too panicked. Even as she tried to calm herself, her fear of loosing her control made her even more frantic, which it turn caused her grasp on her mind to loosen just that little bit more.

"Kairi!" Sora's voice rang out from somewhere in the distance. That calmed her a little. She started to regain her control a little. Her breathing slowed further. _You can do this._ Her mind said resolutely. She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself to keep her cool, to regain her control.

"No need to panic." She murmured, almost relieved sounding. After a few moments, she heard footsteps coming towards her. She looked up, letting her eyes open. She was curled up in a little enclosure, surrounded by a little white picket fence. There was a quaint little cottage to her left, and the tree, she knew, was behind her. There was a little cobblestone path leading into the little garden where she lay from what she assumed was the front of the cottage. Sora appeared from around the front, running down the path towards her. She shut her eyes instantly, dropping her head back to the soft grass on the ground.

"Kai? Kai, what's wrong?" He asked urgently, sitting down next to her. She felt his hand on her back and didn't reply. "Kai… tell me what's wrong…" he said quietly. She felt his hand under her chin and he tilted her head up to face him. Before she could stop herself, she opened her eyes. Sora faltered. He stared openly for a moment. Kairi bit back tears when she saw the look on his face.

"…I'm sorry." she whispered, looking at the ground. "I guess…I should have told you." she said, sounding ashamed.

"What happened?" He asked, his voice raw with shock.

"I panicked." She replied, still staring at the ground. He tilted her head back up so she faced him again. Her irises, instead of their usual deep shade of blue-purple, they were dark red, almost blood colour. Her top had a large rip across her back, and a deep cut underneath. Her arms and shoulders were covered in cuts. But despite her injuries, the colour of her eyes was what most alarmed him. She moved slightly so she was sitting cross-legged and looked back at the ground. She gasped and slapped her hand over her ankle. Sora gave her a determined look and gently lifted her hand. Beneath the woven branches and leaves of her tattoo, the heartless insignia burned, almost glowing. The insignia was not put into the tattoo; she'd gotten it to hide the sign emblazoned there. He stared at it.

"Will wonders never cease." He said, almost hurtfully. Kairi grabbed his arm.

"Let me explain!" She asked desperately. He nodded, looking rather hurt himself. She cleared her throat, waiting until she was sure she would speak without bursting into tears. "When…when my heart got stolen, I was supposed to become a heartless like them, but I fought it. If I hadn't, you wouldn't have been able to save me. Even though I did fight it, there's still some Heartless inside me. Most of the time I can control it, but when I panic…" Her voice trailed off. Sora watched her, looking worried.

"Kai…"

"I know I should have told you, but I didn't and I'm sorry, just please don't be mad…" she begged, looking up at him. He smiled sadly.

"Kai, I love you and I can't be mad at you for more than five seconds." He replied. She tried to smile, though wasn't very successful. There was a long silence. "Are you going to be okay?" He asked finally. Kairi nodded.

"I will now." She replied, still looking upset. Sora frowned.

"I mean, you don't look very happy…" he observed. She half-smiled at him. Grinning, Sora wrapped his arms around her waist. "I never did get to finish comforting you underneath that tree…" he whispered. Kairi started to smile, sincerely this time.

"And look at that, we managed to find ourselves under another tree together. Just the two of us." she replied.

"There are not just two, indeed, I am here, and I am not just _another tree_." A bass, booming voice said from behind them. Both Kairi and Sora yelped, scrambling away from the voice and trying to stand up. Kairi was on her feet first and stared openly. Sora was up a moment later and joined Kairi in just staring. They'd certainly never seen anything like _that_ before. There were a pair of footsteps running towards them on the cobblestone path, but they ignored it. Rikku came around the corner and sprinted towards them, shouting.

"I found you! Hey Sora! Kairi!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, grinning as she approached them. They didn't react, just stayed facing away from her.

"No need to yell." A loud, low voice told her. She stopped abruptly, searching for the source of the voice. She didn't need to look very far. Indeed, it was the biggest thing in sight. Surprised, she cried out,

"THE TREE HAS A FACE!"

………………

Yuna landed with a soft thump. Her eyes snapped open as she fell back, landing on what felt like moss. Looking around, she found that it was. _This wasn't here before…_she thought, a bit confused. But then, nothing she saw had been. She was in a small, grassy enclosure. There was a gate with a large sign overtop, labled 'Coral'. Just beyond that was a little cottage, built into the side of a hill. She was sitting on the mossy roof of a wooden shed. It was rather small, and so with relative ease, she jumped off the roof, landing in the long grass of the enclosure. A thud not far away drew her attention. Looking over, she saw that Tidus had jumped from the roof of the little cottage and was walking towards her.

"Where'd all this come from?" He asked when he got closer to her. She met him beneath the gate and shrugged.

"I have no idea. This is a coral though." She said, pointing to the sign above their heads. Looking up, Tidus nodded.

"Huh. So it is. I wonder where everyone else is?" He asked. Yuna shrugged.

"Around here somewhere I guess." she replied. There was a distant crunch. The pair looked at each other. "What was that?" Yuna asked after a moment. Tidus took her hand.

"Let's go see." With that, they walked around the back of the house. At the back, there was this door leading into a mound underground. The mound had multiple smokestacks sticking out of it. Tidus raised his eyebrows, silently asking Yuna if she wanted to check it out. She nodded and tried to open the door. It was locked. She knocked. After a long wait, they had decided no one was there. Turning to leave, they heard a creak. They looked back to see a rather disheveled looking Paine emerging from the underground door. A moment later, Baralai stepped out. Yuna and Tidus both burst out laughing. Baralai said nothing, watching them helplessly. Paine glared at them, her cheeks going red.

"What's so funny?" she asked sharply. Yuna had almost collapsed in her laughter and was holding Tidus' shoulder for support. Tidus opened his mouth to answer, but only started to laugh even harder, both of them collapsing into a heap on the ground. Paine turned even redder. A scream drew their attention. Tidus and Yuna scrambled to their feet. As Paine and Baralai ran to see what was wrong, they followed, still chuckling. They'd barely taken two steps when Gippal dropped out of what seemed to be nowhere, almost on top of them. He didn't land very gracefully, but rather hard. A vine dropped on top of him a moment later. He stood up, brushing himself off and kicking the vine out of the way. Seeing the confused looks on Tidus and Yuna's faces, he smirked.

"Stupid vines don't make very good ropes." He said simply. They grinned at him. Straightening up, he looked around. "So, what's going on? Who screamed?" He asked. Tidus shrugged.

"Couldn't tell you." He answered.

"We were going to see, but then you, ahem, _dropped in_ on us." Yuna added. Gippal rolled his eyes.

………………

The five not in the orchard arrived on time to see Rikku on the ground, scrambling to get away from the tree, and Sora and Kairi standing between her and the tree, looking like they didn't know whether to laugh at her or scream with her. The tree was chuckling. Wait a minute. The tree was _chuckling_? That definitely wasn't something you saw everyday.

"Indeed I have a face, little girl. I am Trent." It said kindly. There was silence for a moment as they took in what they saw before them. Suddenly, Rikku jumped to her feet.

"This is it!" She cried. "This is the tree the King told us about!" She had her weapons out, pointing them menacingly at Trent. Kairi crossed her arms.

"Maybe. But he doesn't seem to be that Heartless. Besides, if he was, this all would have been way too easy." She said. Sora nodded.

"Besides, the King told us the tree was a goddess. Trent's a guy." He paused, looking at the tree. "…right?" he asked. The tree chuckled again.

"Yes. It seems to me that you are looking for the Mana Tree." He said. "Like you said…" he looked at Kairi, "she will be much harder to find than I." Yuna frowned.

"Then how do we get started looking?" She asked. Trent seemed to stretch, the branches creaking with age.

"If I were you, I would speak to Bud and Lisa first. They would be most happy to allow you to say here as long as you need I imagine. Then, speak to the Sproutling." He said. Baralai made a face.

"The what?" He asked, sounding confused.

"The Sproutling." Trent replied patiently. "They may seem like children, but they are older than even I, and they are connected to the Tree herself." He explained.

"So, where would we find Bud and Lisa?" Tidus asked. Trent didn't reply, he just smiled. Then, a little voice came from behind them, just around the corner

"Bud! What are you doing? I can hear that racket all the way in the hous-." She stopped talking abruptly when she rounded the corner and saw the eight people standing there. She was a young girl, looking only about 10 or so, with long brown hair held up in a ponytail and a large broom in one hand. She stared at each of them in turn for a moment, until her eyes landed on Kairi. Her jaw dropped. Kairi looked down at herself, wondering what she was staring at. She realized that she was still holding half of her ribbon (the other half must have been pulled out of her hand in the confusion), and that, oddly enough, the charm had found its way back on. Or at least, she thought it was the charm. Instead of its old shape, it was now a little mailbox, with tiny wings. Whatever it was, it must have had great meaning to this girl. Suddenly, without warning, the 10-year-old ran at Kairi and tackled her in a hug, giggling. Surprised, Kairi stumbled, off balance, and fell over, sending both girls tumbling. Kairi sat up, rubbing her head, and the girl blushed, turning suddenly bashful.

"Sorry…" she mumbled. Kairi couldn't help but grin as she held up the charm.

"I take it you know what this is?" she asked. The girl looked up and nodded.

"It's the artifact. You freed us." She answered. "Trent told us all about it."

"Us?" Paine asked suddenly. The girl looked up at her, smiling.

"Yup, me and my brother Bud."

"So you're Lisa?" Yuna asked, bending over to her. Lisa smiled even wider, nodding.

"How did you know?" She asked, more curious than anything.

"Trent told us!" Rikku exclaimed. Gippal smirked.

"Yeh, after he scared the hell out of us." He muttered. She elbowed him and, to everyone's surprise, he shut up.

"We're looking for the Mana Tree." Baralai told Lisa. She frowned, thinking.

"Well, I don't know where to find her… but you can stay here while you look! But only if you let me and Bud tag along sometimes." She offered with a grin. Sora grinned back.

"No problem." He replied. "Now, you know where we can find a Sproutling thingy?" he asked. Kairi hid a grin, Lisa almost laughed aloud.

"Sure, she's out front." She answered, giggling. With that, she stood up and started back towards the front of the house. A moment later, they heard the door open, and Lisa began to shout.

"HEY BUD! THERE'S PEOPLE-." They didn't get to hear the rest, as the door was shut and they could no longer hear her. Kairi started towards the front a moment later, taking Sora's hand.

"Come on, let's go find the Sproutling thingy." She said, teasing him. Sora's only reaction was to stick his tongue out at her. She stuck her tongue out back at him and giggled. Paine rolled her eyes. Sora and Kairi were the first two to reach the front. They looked around for this 'Sproutling'. It took them a moment to see her, as she blended in so well with the bushes. Catching sight of her visitors, the Sproutling skipped out onto the cobblestone. They had stopped dead and were watching the little Sproutling as she approached, smiling widely. Sora nudged Kairi.

"This place just keeps getting weirder…"

……………….

So so so, into the last leg of the fic! Well, don't fret, for it will be a very long leg :P Read and Review, I love my reviewers all! A special note to Mandy: don't you worry about Riku! He won't be playing too huge of a part in this fic, but I am planning on a sequel, and believe me, he won't be left in the dark for long!


	33. The Lost Princess

_About Kairi and Sora's ages: I do think I mentioned something about Kairi (and therefore Sora as well) being a year younger than Rikku, but here's a full explanation anyhow. The Gullwings are all the same ages that they were in the game. Yuna's 19, Paine's 19 (as I think she's the same age as Yuna…), Rikku's 17 and so Sora and Kairi are both 16. As well, I had a number of people commenting on the oddity of this world. No, I didn't create it, I'm not this insane :P This is the world of Fa'Diel, the world on which Legend of Mana takes place. Many of the characters and some of the plot ideas come from this game as well!_

……………………………………………………

The entire group of eight strangers to this world were all standing on the cobblestone path, watching the little green thing with curiosity. She skipped up to them. Her entire body was covered in leaves, arranged to make a little dress and hat. Only her face was uncovered. She had a little button nose and little blue eyes that danced. All in all, she was actually very cute.

"Hello hello, who are you?" She asked playfully. Yuna bent down so she was on the same level as the little Sproutling.

"My name's Yuna. You are the Sproutling right?" She asked. The Sproutling giggled.

"I am _a_ Sproutling, but not the only one! There are many of us and we are all connected. I have a gift for you." She said pulling a handful of blocks out of seemingly nowhere. They were a child's building blocks, but they were all held unnaturally in place in the shape of a little village as the Sproutling handed it to Yuna. The little creature smiled at Kairi.

"When you're finished with it, it will be another charm to add to your bracelet!" She announced. "Now time to get your adventure going!" Kairi looked at her wrist. She'd tied the ribbon (with the mailbox still on it) to her wrist. She shrugged. The group of them had just been standing there, not doing anything. The Sproutling waved her hands.

"Go go go!" She said, shooing them down the path. As they walked, Baralai looked back.

"Pushy little thing, isn't she?" He observed. Paine smiled. Meanwhile, Yuna was studying the blocks. Kairi was walking next to her.

"Think it's another artifact?" Yuna asked. Kairi shrugged.

"I guess we'll just have to find out." She replied. The open grassy fields and singing birds and sunshine ended very abruptly. There seemed to just be a line where the new living planet ended and the dead one began. Kairi took the artifact from Yuna and stepped out onto the hard rocky ground. She bent over to place it on the ground and braced herself. Suddenly, she straightened up, still holding the artifact, and motioned for everyone to come over.

"We need to hold on to each other. That way, if we get thrown away again, we won't be separated." She told them. It seemed like a good idea. They all joined hands, with Kairi on one end and Baralai on the other. With the free hand, Kairi held the artifact. Suddenly, she lifted her hand high above her head and threw the blocks with all her might. It landed a distance away. They braced themselves, but when the explosion sounded, they weren't affected. Kairi blinked, slowly letting go of Sora's hand. She shielded her eyes against the remaining light from the flash that had accompanied the explosion. The force of it seemed to have abruptly ended at the border of the house's land. The cobblestone path melted into a more used dirt one, which led into a small square of a town. There was a sign at the side of the road that read "Domina". Glancing at her wrist, she grinned when she saw a little charm of a cottage made of wooden toy blocks. They approached the square, and found two people standing in the middle of it, yelling at each other. There was a boy standing near the shop, with what looked like an enormous onion on his head as a helmet. There was also a man cloaked in blue with a sand mantle standing in front of the tavern. The onion-headed boy sighed in exasperation.

"At least tell me your name!" He said, sounding rather defeated. The other man paused, and there was a long silence.

"…Elazul." He replied gruffly, turning around and disappearing into the tavern. The onion boy clenched his fists.

"The nerve of some people…" he muttered, grumbling other foul things as he walked through the back door of the shop. Rikku crossed her arms.

"What's up with them?" She asked. There was a shout from inside the tavern.

"Check it out?" Tidus asked, starting towards the door. Everyone else followed without complaint. Tidus was about to walk through the door when a very, very, VERY large rabbit walked into him. He stumbled back, muttering 'excuse me', but stopped dead when he looked up and found himself staring at a rabbit taller than he was. It was rather fat and dressed in green poncho with a sombrero on his back.

"'Scuse me!" He said in a very jolly tone. "I'm Niccolo, the world's greatest merchant!" He said, offering his hand to Tidus, who shook it, still rather surprised.

"Tidus." He answered simply. Niccolo smiled.

"Well, Tidus, I must be on my way, but if you or your friends need anything, you can find me in the market place!" With that, he walked, or actually sort of half jogged, half waddled, off down another road. Rikku nodded approvingly.

"Let's go ask him about the tree! He'll know!" She decided. Paine shook her head.

"But so might that Elazul guy. We need to talk to him too." There was a moment of silence. Suddenly, Rikku clapped her hands.

"I've got it! Painie, me and you can go to see Niccolo rabbit-man and Yunie and Kairi can talk to the grumpy guy." She suggested. Gippal cleared his throat. Rikku realized that she'd only bothered to relegate the girls. "Oh right. Gippal, you're coming with me, I've gotta keep my eye on you." She said with a grin. "The rest of the guys…" she paused, thinking. "Oh whatever, go wherever, I don't care." She decided. Gippal crossed his arms.

"And who made you the authority?" He asked. Rikku shrugged.

"I guess I did." She replied. Gippal opened his mouth to argue more with her, but she grabbed his wrist and dragged him off in the direction Niccolo had gone before he got the chance to speak. Paine followed, half smiling, with Baralai a step behind her. Yuna opened the door to the tavern and walked inside. It was empty, but that was to be expected as it was the middle of the day. There were only two people inside. One was a girl, who looked like a waitress, pushed up against one of the tables. The other was Elazul, who was standing intimidatingly over the girl.

"Where is she!" He demanded forcefully. The girl didn't answer, but it was hard to tell whether it was out of defiance or fear. Elazul growled. "Tell me!" He was almost yelling now.

"Excuse me." Yuna intervened. Elazul glared at her. Tidus glared back. Yuna didn't seem to notice. "Do you really need to yell at her?" She asked. Elazul ignored her, turning his attention back to the girl.

"You know where she is!" Elazul accused. The girl was trembling now.

"Hey!" Kairi yelled, walking towards him. "Maybe she doesn't know where this person is! And if she does, the fact that you're yelling at her isn't going to encourage her to tell you!" She told him shortly, almost scoldingly. She was standing toe to toe with him now. She was at least a full head shorter than he was, but showed no fear when he tried to stare her down.

"She knows. I can sense it." He argued. Kairi crossed her arms.

"Well, who are you looking for, anyways?" She asked after a moment.

"Pearl. She has a tendency to get lost. I'm worried. She's like a sister to me." He replied, his tone softening a little. Kairi's expression softened greatly. She knew what that was like. To have someone you care about disappear, and to have no idea where they are, or whether they're safe, or when they were going to come back.

"We'll help you find her." She offered. "That is, if you stop yelling at…" Pausing, she looked at the young waitress.

"Rachel." The girl mumbled in answer. Kairi nodded.

"If you stop yelling at Rachel." She offered. Elazul paused. Crossing his arms, he walked towards the bar, away from the two girls.

"Fine." He replied, sounding like he didn't much like the idea. Rachel was staring at the ground, staying very quiet. It was clear she was a rather shy girl, with her timid mannerisms and whispery voice.

"Thanks…" She mumbled, holding something out to Kairi. It looked like an egg of some kind, made entirely out of Jade. Elazul moved suddenly towards Kairi. Sora watched him suspiciously. He grabbed the Jade Egg out of Kairi's hands.

"This is it!" He announced, ignoring Kairi's glares.

"What's it?" Tidus asked, confused. Elazul gave the Egg back to Kairi.

"That's what I was sensing, why I knew this girl knew where Pearl was." He replied. Suddenly, he began to look like he was going to turn on Rachel again, but Kairi spoke first.

"Then let's get going. I'm sure the faster you find Pearl, the better, right?" She asked, staring towards the door and hoping she succeeded in stopping yet another confrontation between Elazul and Rachel. Indeed, Elazul followed her and the three others out of the tavern, forgetting about his intentions of yelling at Rachel again. They began to make their way towards the edge of town. Kairi was walking just behind everyone else, and Sora slowed his pace and fell into step with her.

"I don't really trust that guy." He commented. Kairi smiled sympathetically.

"I know, me neither, but we got another Artifact out of it so we're going to have to stick it out until we find Pearl." She replied. Sora nodded.

"I can't blame him for being worried." He noted. He was going to say more, but they reached the edge of town and Elazul was yelling about god-knows-what. Frustrated with him, Tidus yelled back and the two of them were about to get into a fist fight, with poor Yuna standing on the sidelines trying helplessly to calm both of them down. Kairi sighed and threw the Jade Egg. Instantly, Elazul forgot about Tidus.

"No! What are you doing?" He shouted at Kairi before starting to attempt to run off and catch it. Tidus smirked, knowing what was going to happen next. Yuna sighed, not even bothering to say anything to him. Kairi rolled her eyes and grinned at Sora, who was grinning back at her. As the Egg hit the ground, there was the explosion, as they had expected, and the effect of it ended on the town boundary. They just heard Elazul shout under the roaring of the explosion, though they couldn't see him due to the flash. A moment later, they found a pathway leading to an underground cavern, and Elazul sitting not-so-gracefully on that path, shouting colourful things. Kairi and Sora helped him to his feet, and the five of them walked into the cavern. Despite the dry, almost desert-like climate of the above ground, the cavern was damp. There were the occasional pools, which reflected light everywhere and made the inside of the cavern look green. There were un-ending passages and directions to go in, so they stood near the entrance and looked carefully down each of the pathways.

"Should we split up?" Yuna asked after a long silence.

"No." Elazul replied. "If Pearl's by herself, than Sandra's probably here after her. She's dangerous, and if we want to stand a chance against her, than we stick together."

"…who's Sandra?" Tidus asked after a moment.

"The Jewel Hunter." Elazul replied. He looked around for another moment, then started down a path. "It's this way." He said. His tone told them not to argue, so they followed him in silence. The path sloped down, deeper into the earth. It was a rather thin passage, with a low roof. Their footsteps echoed down the hallway. The small space suddenly ended, and they came into a large space with a vaulted roof and stalactites. There was a little pool towards the center. The light flickered everywhere from the mirror-like surface. It was quite breathtaking. Kairi wandered forward, looking around and approaching the pool. The flat surface began to ripple slightly, and a crab surfaced. Kairi stared at it. It was the biggest crab she'd ever seen, and she'd seen big crabs before. It looked at her, scuttling back and forth, when it suddenly reached out and snapped at her with its pincers.

"Hey!" Kairi jumped back and slashed at it, more on reaction than anything else, cutting the offending pincer clean off. The crab scuttled around a moment, and then disappeared back into the water. Kairi looked at Elazul for an explanation.

"There are monsters down here, but nothing too dangerous." He answered. She glared at him.

"It would have been nice if you'd warned me about them before a crab tried to eat me." She told him coldly.

"It would have been nice if you'd warned me that the Egg would explode before I was caught in it." He answered, his tone even colder than hers. Sora crossed his arms.

"Remind me again, why are we helping you?" He asked, sounding fairly angered. Elazul shrugged.

"Because you're artifact hunters and Pearl has two that you want." He answered coolly. They fell silent, following Elazul quietly but by no means unreluctantly. They wandered through further passages, and Yuna began to find herself wondering how Elazul had any idea where he was going. She had stopped looking where she was going, and almost walked into Sora when he stopped suddenly. Tidus, who apparently had also not been paying attention, walked into her, knocking her into Sora and Kairi. They caught themselves. It was Elazul who had stopped so suddenly, making everyone else pull to a halt and run into each other behind him. He was standing in an arching 'doorway', only just big enough to allow him through. Sora, Kairi, Yuna and Tidus were all straining to see what he had narrowed his eyes at, but were unable to.

"What? What is it?" Sora finally asked in exasperation. Elazul stepped into the room, allowing them to come into the huge cavern behind him. There was a woman standing in the center of the room, inspecting her fingernails. She spoke without even bothering to look up.

"I was expecting you a bit sooner, Knight of the Lapis Lazuli." She commented haughtily. Elazul glared at her.

"Sandra. Where's Pearl?" He asked, his tone deadly. Sandra smiled cruelly.

"Your dear Pearl? Oh she's fine. Just through there." She pointed to a small opening in the cavern wall, leading into another cavern. Her eyes met Elazul's and she crossed her arms. "She's just having a little visit with Du'Inke." She added. With that, she seemed to disappear into thin air. Elazul walked over to the place she had been standing and looked wildly around.

"Damn you, Sandra!" He shouted, frustrated. There was a crash coming from the next cave, and Elazul was instantly running towards it, followed closely by the others. Bursting into the next room, they found an enormous half-cat, half-ape like thing carrying a hammer. Kairi was the first to react, sending her disk flying at it. More out of sheer luck than anything else, Du'Inke moved just so the disk ended up embedding itself in the enormous hammer. Kairi frowned, glancing at Sora.

"Just my luck." She muttered. Sora grinned.

"Hey, Shinra gave you extras for a reason, right?" He answered, ducking out of the way of a swing from the beast. Kairi saw an opening, and ran as fast as she could, sliding between the things legs and ending up behind it. It hadn't noticed, so she grabbed its tail, using her claws to latch herself on to it and bracing herself for quite the ride. Roaring, Du'Inke whipped its tail around, flailing it all over the place in an attempt to knock Kairi off, though it seemed it only succeeded in getting her to dig her claws in deeper to keep from falling. Once she got the chance, she let go, grabbed onto its upper arm and scrambled onto its shoulder. Meanwhile, Yuna had been taking shots at the tail in an attempt to get Du'Inke to stop trying to send Kairi flying. Tidus and Sora rushed at it, each one cutting into one of its legs. Du'Inke collapsed to its knees. It growled and threw its hammer upward. The hammer connected with the roof, sending a storm of stalactites raining down on them. Kairi cowered on Du'Inke's shoulder, with nowhere to find cover from the falling stone. Tidus and Sora were both relatively sheltered. Sora stepped out of his shelter from beneath the huge figure of the monster and swung himself up to where Kairi was. Yuna had found shelter near one of the walls. Tidus stayed in the shelter of Du'Inke, still hacking away at the beast. Elazul jumped in next to him, picking up where Sora left off after he went to help Kairi. Sora crouched next to Kairi, holding his hands over his head in a feeble attempt to keep from behind crushed. Kairi's claws were caught in the mess of fur. With a quick tug, she freed herself. Sora drove his Keyblade into the monster. Grabbing Kairi's hand and dodging the falling rock, he realized that Du'Inke was dead and falling forward. It was going to take them with it.

"Come on!" He shouted over the crashing of the stone and jumped down the creature's back, pulling Kairi with him. They landed and rolled, unable to do anything but hope that they wouldn't be hit. Pressed against the walls and holding each other tight, they shut their eyes, bracing for a falling stone, and waited for the dust to clear. The rumbling and the crashing stopped. Kairi opened her eyes and found herself lying flat on top of Sora. She grinned sheepishly at him, and kissed him quickly, though the kiss lasted for quite a bit longer than either of them had anticipated. Rolling off Sora, Kairi began to blush when she saw Tidus and Yuna laughing at them, and Elazul giving them a funny look. Elazul's expression changed completely when something on his chest shimmered. Another shimmer from inside an enclosure of rock caught Yuna's eye and she looked over to see a young woman walking towards them. Elazul walked over to her. She seemed very shy and she stared off into space, smiling slightly.

"Elazul…it seems I've gotten a bit lost again…" She said, her voice sounding distant. Elazul scowled.

"Pearl! You have to stop wandering off like that! You can't keep getting lost!" He told her angrily. Kairi frowned.

"Do you treat all women like this, or just Rachel and Pearl?" She asked shortly. Elazul glared at her.

"It doesn't concern you." He replied. Kairi crossed her arms.

"Well I'm concerned, so stop yelling at her." She ordered.

"I'm not yelling at her." Elazul replied, sounding rather frustrated.

"Well, you certainly seem a bit overly angry with her." Yuna noted.

"Of course I'm angry! She got herself lost again!"

"How about saying something like 'I'm glad to see you safe' or something like that?" Kairi suggested, rather frustrated herself. All the while, Pearl was watching Kairi, Sora, Yuna and Tidus with interest.

"Did they help you find me?" She asked rather suddenly.

"…yes." Elazul said after a moment. Pearl smiled shyly and walked up to Kairi.

"Thank you." She said, holding something out in her hand. Kairi took it. It was a Stone Eye, and an artifact. Pearl smiled and was about to walk back over to Elazul when she stopped herself. "This too." She murmured, blushing a little as she held out the Firefly Lamp. With that, she walked over to Elazul.

"Let's go." He ordered, leading her out. They watched the pair go. After a moment, Yuna sighed.

"He was rude." She noted. Tidus nodded.

"That's putting it much too politely." He agreed. Kairi shrugged.

"Well, Pearl's alright, so let's get out of here, maybe see what Rikku and them are up to."


	34. Niccolo's Business: Unusual

**I LOVE ALL MY READERS! I HAVE 100 REVIEWS! YAY! I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!**

This whole chapter happens at the same time that the last chapter does, starting from the time the group splits up

Rikku walked into the market place. It kind of reminded her of a more open-air, and less machina-oriented Home. It had that same atmosphere. She let go of Gippal's wrist and he fell into step beside her. She grinned.

"Reminds me of Home." She said quietly. With half a smile, he caught her by the waist and pulled her closer to him as they walked. Not far behind, Paine hid a smile.

"You know, when they're not fighting, they make kind of a cute couple." She commented as she watched. Baralai grinned and was about to say something when Rikku shouted something and began to run. Both Paine and Baralai jogged to keep up with her and Gippal as she approached Niccolo. The rabbit smiled at her.

"Hello! Were you not one of the people I met at the tavern?" He asked when she slowed up. Rikku nodded.

"Yup! My name's Rikku!" She said happily.

"Pleased to meet you! Where are the rest of your friends?" He asked, noting their decreased numbers.

"They went to talk to that Elazul guy." Gippal answered. Niccolo scowled.

"Oh, him. I do pity your poor friends." He said woefully, and very over-dramatically. Rikku made a face.

"Me too." She agreed, sounding rather disgusted. Suddenly, Niccolo's face lit up.

"You are adventures, correct?" He asked curiously.

"You could call us that." Baralai answered slowly. Niccolo nodded, thinking a moment.

"Don't you think the highways have gotten to dangerous to travel on?" He asked after a moment. Rikku and Gippal looked at each other, both of them thinking of the Highroad.

"Well, not really." Rikku answered truthfully. Niccolo eyed her.

"You don't? You must be quiet brave. It is much too dangerous for a merchant such as myself with all those bandits about." He said solemnly. Gippal smirked.

"Bandits? We make a regular habit of kicking bandit ass." He answered arrogantly. Paine was tempted to hit him for being so full of himself. Niccolo, though, seemed thoroughly impressed.

"Do you? Well, then I have a proposition for you. What do you say to giving me a hand clearing the Highway? Of course, you will be paid handsomely." He offered. Gippal raised his eyebrows.

"How much are we talkin'?" He asked, his interested clearly peaked. Paine rolled her eyes.

"We'll do it." She answered. Niccolo clapped his hands.

"Very good, very good. First, I should need to visit a regular customer of mine, I won't be long. This way" With that, he led the group back towards the tavern. Paine and Baralai went into the tavern to find the others and let them know where they'd be, while Rikku and Gippal went with Niccolo to the shop, where this customer would be waiting. They walked through the shop, with Niccolo offering a quick hello to the woman at the desk. She waved them through into the back room. There, they found a man slumped into a large armchair and the onion-boy who had been arguing with Elazul. Resting on the empty chair was a very large teapot. Rikku and Gippal stared at it for a moment. Rikku nudged Gippal.

"Think they drink a lot of tea or what?" She asked, sounding bewildered. They both jumped when the teapot moved.

"Oi! Niccolo! Good to see ye!" The pair stared open mouthed for a moment, and Rikku spoke.

"Am I crazy, or did that teapot just talk?" She asked in a whisper. Gippal shrugged.

"I've seen talking trees, a girl that looked like she was made of bushes and a little kid that wears an onion on his head. I wouldn't be surprised." He answered simply. Rikku nodded in agreement. Meanwhile, Niccolo smiled.

"Hello Teapo! I've got a great item for you today, but I don't know if I can let go of it." He said.

"Ah Niccolo! Yo're jus' tryin ta rile me up! Let's see!" Teapo replied. Niccolo pulled out a wooden wheel and showed it off.

"This is it! A sturdy wheel, made strong enough to take anything you can deal it!" He said in his best salesman voice. Rikku smirked. She thought it looked like it was about to fall apart. Teapo paused.

"I dunno…'Ow much?" She asked. Niccolo smiled even wider.

"You're a lucky girl today my dear Teapo, because just for you, and I'd only do this for you, it's just 50000 Lucre!" He announced. Teapo almost fell over.

"Oi! Niccolo! Are ye tryin' to break me? You know I don' 'ave that much!" She replied, exasperated. Niccolo brought himself up to full height.

"Don't you want it?" He asked, sounding surprised. "This is a once in a life-time chance Teapo!" He told her earnestly. Teapo paused again.

"10000, and that's as high as I c'n go!" She replied. Niccolo shook his fluffy head in disappointment.

"Dear me, that just won't do. I'm sorry Teapo, but it looks like I'm going to have to give it to Rikku." He said slowly, handing it to Rikku.

"20000!" Teapo offered hurriedly. Niccolo shook his head, looking truly saddened. The onion-boy jumped off his chair.

"Teapo! Don't listen to him. He's trying to cheat you again." He reasoned. Niccolo looked shocked.

"Cheat you? Never!" He answered, indignant. The onion-boy rolled his eyes. In a huff, Niccolo turned and stomped out. Gippal followed. Rikku was about to, but paused, looking at the onion-kid.

"Ummm, why are you wearing an onion?" She asked slowly. The boy stared proudly at her.

"Because I am Duelle the Onion Warrior!" He replied. Rikku looked at him like he was crazy, and then wandered out after the others. Outside in the square, she met up with Gippal, Niccolo, Paine and Baralai.

"Kairi, Sora, Yuna and Tidus have gone somewhere with that Elazul guy. The girl in the pub didn't seem to interested in telling us where, though." Paine told her when she got to them. Rikku shrugged.

"I guess we'll just have to find them after we get done with dealing with the bandit problem." She answered with a shrugged. Gippal nodded.

"Sounds like a plan" Niccolo started towards the edge of town.

"Indeed! Let us go!" He said semi-heroically, leading them off down a road.

The creation of Luon Highway went much like the creation of their Home away from home, and Domina, and the Mekiv Caverns. Luon Highway, though, was not nearly as much like the Highroad on Spira as they had been expecting. There were virtually not trees, and the few that there were had no leaves. The ground was rocky and road was made of packed dirt. All in all, despite its rather lifeless look, it wasn't that terrible a place. The only thing was that the road seemed totally empty. They walked for a good while, and only ever met with a handful of overly-large flies and a couple of carnivorous plants as enemies.

"So, where are these bandits?" Paine asked after along while.

"They like to trap people further down the Highroad, where they're too far from town to be able to escape or chance upon help." Niccolo explained gravely. As he spoke, they rounded a corner and a fork came into view. A cloaked figure was standing at the fork, gazing down one of the paths. Upon hearing the footsteps of the group, the figure turned around, her hood falling off. She was very human like, but for all intensive purposes, she was a cat. An overly tall cat who stood on two feet and carried weapons, but none-the-less, was still a cat. As they approached her, she spoke.

"Are you here to see the Wisdom?" She asked, sounding casual, but her hidden eagerness was still there.

"The Wisdom?" Baralai asked slowly. Niccolo smiled.

"My, what cute ears." He commented in a jolly tone. The cat glared at him.

"I wasn't talking to you." She said sharply. She turned her attention back to Baralai. "The Wisdom. There's one here on the highway." She explained. Rikku scratched her head.

"Are you here to see the Wisdom?" She asked after a moment.

"I don't know. I think so. I need to ask for help for a friend." The cat answered. She blinked. "Oh, I'm Daena, by the way. I'm from the Gato Grottoes." She said in a quick introduction.

"Rikku"

"Gippal"

"Paine"

"Baralai" Each of them introduced themselves in turn. Before Niccolo could introduce himself, Daena spoke.

"Well, I suppose you have much to do, and should be on your way." She said.

"Umm, which way to the bandits?" Rikku asked after a moment. Daena gave her a funny look.

"Well, this is the way to the Wisdom, and there would be no bandits up there." She said, pointing. She looked down the other path. "So I suppose that the bandits would be this way." She pointed slightly, still rather confused by Rikku's question. The Al Bhed girl grinned at her and started down the path, beckoning for the others to follow. Jogging to catch up with the others, Niccolo turned back around to Daena and gave her a quick wink. Daena was visibly disgusted.

….

"Hey hey! What you be doin'?" A voice asked as two shapes cloaked in green scuttled towards them. Gippal raised an eyebrow at Niccolo.

"_These_ are the bandits that you were so afraid of?" He asked, watching the little squirts hurrying towards them with their little bows and arrows, neither more than 3 feet tall. Niccolo crossed his arms, indignate, and glared at the little Bandits

"Hey hey, were are the banditos, in all our terrifying might!" The first one said, looking up at Gippal savagely. The other glared up at Niccolo.

"Guv eus money! Money money money!" He demanded. Rikku grinned.

"Here you go." She said, placing a little candy that she'd had stuffed in her pocket into the little bandit's hand. She growled, outraged.

"That's it! We're gonna sick out boss on you! BOSS!" The pair of them went running down the path away from them.

"I wonder what the Boss is? A masterful, terrifying duck perhaps?" Paine asked sarcastically. Almost in answer, there was a deafening buzzing sound, and a huge mantis ant lowered itself onto the ground in front of them. It was at least 10 feet tall, but despite its imposing size, it reminded them greatly of a handful of very long twigs. Paine smirked.

"Not problem." She said, lifting her sword. Rikku grinned.

"We'll squash him like a bug 'cause he IS a bug!" She announced. Niccolo waltzed right up to the Mantis Ant and dropped a box down in front of it.

"A gift, your worthiness." He said in his slickest, most slimy voice. The rest of them stared at him, wondering if they'd been suckered into a trap. Niccolo backed away from the creature in a low bow, while the others watched him suspiciously. Turning his back to the Ant, he grinned at the others and subtly plugged his ears. Rikku watched him, wandering what he could possibly be doing. Suddenly, her thoughts were answered when the box, which the Mantis Ant was trying to open, exploded. The Ant stumbled backwards, disoriented, and Gippal took the chance, firing a number of shots at it. Rikku jumped up and scoffed her candy back, (which the bandit had given his boss, apparently) and took a bagful of loot. She kicked off and used its already off-balance position to knock it down. Paine and Baralai ran at it, Baralai killing it with a blow to the head and Paine making sure it was dead by cutting it clean in half. There was a series of popping sounds, and the Mantis Ant was completely gone. Paine crossed her arms.

"That was easy," she muttered, sounding not-so-impressed. Baralai grinned. Meanwhile, Niccolo was thanking Rikku and Gippal profusely.

"Oh, your help was very much appreciated. Thank you so very very much! As a token of my gratitude, please accept this popo bug. And this Bronze Medallion. And this Flame amulet. And this payment of 500 lucre." He offered, stuffing the stuff into their hands.

"Wow, that's a lot of stuff…" Rikku observed idly while Niccolo offered his thanks to Paine and Baralai, then heading off down the road.

"Now what?" Baralai asked Rikku and Gippal. Rikku shrugged.

"I say we head back to town and find the rest of the others." Gippal suggested.


	35. Meeting Emma

…………………

By the time the whole group of the eight of them had been reunited in Domina, it was after dark. Their little adventures had taken longer than they'd thought. Inside the tavern, which was now much fuller than it had been earlier, they were all sitting around a large round table, with the four artifacts they'd collected. Rikku spotted Daena sitting alone, and walked over. The cat-woman had her head on the table; she was either very upset or very drunk, or possibly both. However, Daena was not one to drink, her strict moral code didn't allow for it. Rikku was wondering why she was alone as she took a seat next to her.

"Hi Daena." She greeted softly. Daena looked up at her, but didn't say anything. Rather uncomfortable, Rikku spoke again. "So, did you go see the Wisdom?" She asked offhandedly. Daena nodded, her expression resentful.

"He has the title of Wisdom, though he is anything but wise." She replied bitterly. With that, she stood up. "Goodnight Rikku." Rikku watched her go, rather surprised. Tidus was twisted around in his seat and looking at Rikku.

"You okay?" He asked after a moment. Rikku nodded brightly and returned to her seat at their table.

"I'm fine, I don't think Daena is though…" Not making any other comment on the matter, she looked curiously at the four artifacts sitting in the middle of the table. She grinned. "Well, today was certainly productive." She observed happily. Gippal tossed the bag of money that they'd gotten from Niccolo on the table next to the artifacts.

"…And, uh, en_rich_ing." He added with a smirk. Kairi inspected them.

"I wonder what…er…_where_ they are?" She asked.

"…What?" Sora asked, totally confused.

"I mean, what places will they make? And how many more of these are we going to have to go hunting for?" She asked again. Tidus shrugged.

"Who knows? I mean, I really don't mind staying here. This world is a nice place." He decided, leaning back so his chair was up on the two back legs. Yuna giggled. "What's so funny?" He asked suspiciously. Yuna grinned.

"You should have all four legs on the floor." She told him. He rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." He answered. However, little did he know, Rikku (who was sitting on the other side of him) was motioning like she was going to kick the legs out from under him. Getting a little overzealous with her acting, the Al Bhed accidentally hit one of the legs, so the chair was only held up on the one leg. Tidus yelped and quickly leaned to the side to try to keep his balance. However, in his surprise, he leaned too far and fell to the floor with a crash. Yuna and Rikku burst out laughing, hardly able to breathe. The others, who hadn't really been paying much attention to the three of them, looked over in surprise when they heard the crash. Most of the people in the people in the tavern were staring at Tidus as he untangled himself from under the chair and stood up, brushing himself off quickly. He grinned and took a quick bow before righting his chair and sitting back down. Needless to say, he kept a wary eye on Rikku for the rest of the evening.

……………

The stars were the only light as they walked up the cobblestone path to the door of their 'home away from home'. And there certainly weren't many stars. Kairi frowned. _It's like Zanarkand was…_ she thought. At first she thought maybe the moonlight blocked them out, only to realize a moment later that there was no moon whose light could block it out. She thought about Zanarkand. It felt like so long ago. Then again, when she thought of lying on the beaches of Destiny Island, it felt like that was months and months ago. She suddenly felt pained. She knew she wasn't going back. Consciously, she still told herself that she didn't trust Riku, but even so, she knew he was telling her the truth. And she knew deep down that she did trust him, that he didn't deserve his prison. He deserved to be with them, wandering the worlds.

……………..

The dark is never very fun to be in. Especially for long periods of time. That is, unless you're in there for long enough that you grow accustomed to it. That certainly doesn't mean you can join with it, you still must fight it, but after a while, the darkness tends to recede, leaving you to your own devices. This is why Riku had been surprised when he found Kairi. The darkness around her had receded when he found her. It had taken him at least a week to fight the darkness off enough in this prison of his that he had 'glowed'. He didn't really know what it was called, but whatever it was, it made people look like they were glowing in the dark. Once the darkness receded, he supposed that what was left had to be light, and so he wandered the darkness, almost in a little bubble of light. Kairi'd had a little 'bubble' too. How long had she spent in there before he found her? It can't have been that long. If she'd been in there for too long, he had no doubt that whatever was left of the Heartless in her would have taken hold. Yes, he knew about the Heartless in her. He also knew Sora didn't know. Or hadn't, until she told him. Yes, he knew she told him. He knew from the mirror ball. Hidden in the darkness, there was a great orb which would show you all that you wanted to see. He had known Kairi was coming, he'd seen it. He'd been watching her and Sora often (AN: NOT in the creepy kind of way). They were what kept him sane. Because they were still out there, and they hadn't forgotten him, there was still a chance they'd find a way to get him out. They would come back for him. He spent the endless days sitting with the mirror ball, watching the goings on of the outside worlds. Mostly though, he'd watched Sora and Kairi in their search for each other. He saw Kairi find Yuna and the Gullwings. He saw them find Tidus. He saw her becoming overwhelmed in seeing Yuna and Tidus together, he'd seen her running through the streets of Zanarkand. He'd seen Sora, Goofy and Donald find Spira and meet Gippal, Baralai and Nooj. But, no, he hadn't seen these things before they happened, he'd seen them as they happened. So, how had he known that Kairi and Sora were never to return to the Islands? The blocks. If you knew how to read them properly, they told what each would give up, and how and when it would happen. Now, as he watched his friends walking up to the house on Fa'Diel, his heart sunk. They weren't going to find him. They weren't going to set him free. And worst of all, they were walking blindly to their deaths and it was his fault. He had to fix it. Only one problem; fate had set this in motion, each and every event in the worlds leading up to this point in time. Riku knew it was important, because all events before this were just preparing the world for this to happen, but these heroes wouldn't survive to see whatever gift it was they would bring to the world. He wanted to fight it, but how was he supposed to fight fate and destiny?

"It's not fair!" He shouted into the darkness, slamming his fist into the ground. "Why should fate decide? They don't deserve to die!" He shouted again, knowing no one was listening. No one was there to listen to him. So, that's why he jumped when a voice spoke behind him.

"Excuse me? Who's going to die?" It asked. Riku spun, shocked. He almost half expected to see Kairi there again. She was the only other person to have been there. Instead, he found someone else. A girl, about his age, stood behind him. Her brown hair fell to her waist, rather messily, and she was wearing her pajamas. In fact, she looked quite like she'd just rolled out of bed. Riku almost smiled. Her mannerisms reminded him very much of Kairi.

"Who are you?" He asked slowly, walking up to her. Instead of answering, she asked a new question.

"Where am I?"

"A dark place between worlds." Riku answered, crossing his arms and inspecting her. Despite her disheveledness, she was kind of cute.

"Oh. How did I get here?" She asked, looking around in confusion. Riku shrugged.

"I was wondering the same thing." He told her, sighing. "You probably came through a door." She shook her head.

"Nope. The last thing I remember is falling asleep. I'm probably dreaming." She answered non-chalantly. Riku raised his eyebrows.

"Well, I know I'm real. You do dream yourself into real places a lot?" He asked jokingly. To his surprise, she nodded.

"Oh yes. This happens all the time. I dream myself into different times sometimes too. Only, usually I'm clothed to fit in with the locals. This is the first time I've been caught in my pajamas." She admitted with a grin. Riku stared at her. _This chick's definitely not normal…_

………………..

Whooooooooooooo! I'm done! Kind of a weird note to leave off at but hey! Anyways, RnR, and I'll post again soon! Luv ya'll!


	36. The Fallen Emperor

The night was dark, almost black, but that didn't bother Kairi any. Because he was sitting next to her. It's all okay. She smiled.

"Sora?" Her voice was quite, but in the silence, it seemed loud. She heard a bit of movement and felt him move closer to her.

"Hm?" They were sitting outside, leaning against the wall of the barn in the coral. Kairi stared up at the sky.

"This world doesn't seem Heartless…" She observed. She grinned in spite of herself, knowing how dumb she sounded.

"How do you mean?" Sora asked, his hand catching hers, his fingers wrapping around hers. Kairi smiled.

"I dunno, I just think that this place seems too nice to be ruled by a goddess with no heart…" She said. This was a rather depressing thing to be talking about, but she was still inexplicably happy.

"I guess so. Elazul wasn't too nice though. Neither was that guy from the temple in Gato…Reuben." He decided. Kairi smirked.

"Maybe. But that's just him. I like this world. It's so….funny." She couldn't think of any other word to describe it. It was nice and it made her happy, but it was unbelievably odd. "Reuben…you can't really blame him for being kind of nasty. He was about to be killed…." Her voice trailed off. Her inexplicable happiness was fading. She'd been the only one, other than his murderer Sandra, to have witnessed it. She'd pulled out his heart. How horrible. Then again, he didn't really have a proper heart in the first place. There was this race of beings on Fa'Diel called the Jumi. They didn't have hearts, they had cores instead, made from precious stones. They'd discovered just too late that Reuben was the Jumi of the Ruby. Sandra the Jewel Hunter wasn't just any jewel hunter, she stole the cores of Jumi. Elazul and Pearl were Jumi as well. That explained why Elazul was so worried about Sandra being after Pearl. Elazul had told them all this afterward, when they'd gone to Domina. He also said that, while he was grateful for their help, the Jumi needed to deal with Sandra themselves. Kairi understood, and so did the others. The Jumi had their own adventures to dicover, their own challenges to overcome, just like Kairi and her friends did. They'd wandered through the jungle, they'd discovered a lake called Lake Kilma, which had been inhabited by Penguin Pirates. They'd discovered a city of night, lit by the beautiful lamps of a siren in love, each one unique. They'd also found themselves a new pile of Artifacts. One that particularly intrigued Kairi was the Bent Spoon. She didn't know why, but there was something about it. She almost felt as if it was the place they needed to be to find the Mana Tree. Maybe the Spoon was the Tree they were looking for? She sighed, letting her mind wander, wondering about what might happen to them next.

………………..

The group had a very busy day the next day, placing the Tome of Magic, which created a beautiful city based around a college of magic, and the Coral Torch, a beautiful harbour hotel called Polpota, and the Rusty Anchor, which was a pirate ship manned by Penguins. And, the Bent Spoon had been placed. Kairi had been expecting some wonderous new place, where perhaps they would meet a new Sproutling, or another Jumi… but instead, in was a dead field, the flat grey only broken by a jet black tombstone, ancient and crooked. It was huge, a very impressive tombstone, but still, the Bent Spoon was disappointing. Indeed, there wasn't anything there. Rikku looked up at the huge carved stone, and sighed.

"Kaiiiii…. I thought you said that there was something cool in here…." she whined, pouting. Kairi frowned.

"I thought there was…." She admitted half-heartedly, clearly disappointed. Rikku sighed again and reached out to lean on the stone, but as soon as her hand came in contact with the black granite, she let out a scream and disappeared into the stone itself. Gippal spun around to look at the stone and stared.

"Rikku! Where'd she go?" He asked, panicky. Another figure melted out of the stone and bowed. He looked almost wolfish, and was wearing blood red armor. His mannerisms seemed to radiate the internal war he was constantly fighting against himself.

"Not to worry. The girl will be fine. I am Larc, the dragoon." He spoke smoothly, and rigidly. Gippal glared at him

"Where's Rikku? What did you do to her?"

"I've done nothing. She is in the underworld. She went there of her own accord."

"I'm pretty sure Rikku did _not_ want to end up in the land of the dead!" Gippal argued, nearly shouting. Still, Larc didn't flinch.

"She touched the tombstone. She went of her own accord." He explained patiently. Gippal growled and pushed him out of the way.

"Then I'm going too!" He announced defiantly. With that, he touched the tombstone and disappeared. Paine crossed her arms.

"Great. When do you suppose they'll manage to get back?" Paine asked, not worried, just exasperated. Larc shook his head.

"I don't suppose they ever will." He answered. There was silence. Finally, Yuna stalked up to him, clearly angry.

"What do you mean, they won't ever get back?" She asked, her face flushed. Larc shrugged, still maintaining the uncaring air he'd had since he got there.

"Once one enters the land of the dead, you do not return. It's the law of nature." He explained. Yuna's face fell.

"But being sucked through a tombstone isn't the most natural way to die in the first place!" She complained. Larc shrugged again.

"I'm sorry, but it is the way of the world." He answered. Paine groaned and pushed by him.

"Fine. If you're not going to help us, we'll go get them and find our own way out." She decided. Tidus went pale.

"We will?" He asked, surprised. Paine nodded.

"We managed to get you out of Zanarkand without too many problems, didn't we?" She asked. Tidus nodded, looking more resolute. Paine touched the stone and disappeared, followed closely by Kairi, then Sora, then Baralai, then Tidus and Yuna.

Kairi groaned. She felt like she fell a long way, she felt utterly bruised. Sitting up, she saw the others getting up off the ground as well, in conditions similar to hers. They were in a huge cavern, with red tinted light playing off the walls, coming from the gaping hole in the middle of the room that looked like it dropped into a pit of fire. Gippal grimaced.

"You think this place is…hell?" He asked, peering over the edge of the hole. They all looked at each other, not liking the idea of being stuck in hell. Standing up, Baralai spotted the doorway and stared through it. It led down a long hall, and then down a set of wide stairs. Larc was standing at the bottom of the stairs. Rikku glared at him.

"Who are you?" She asked. Gippal glared at him.

"This is the guy who got us stuck here." He answered angrily. Larc frowned.

"I did no such thing. If you should like, I'd be willing to aid you in your quest to leave this place. Perhaps my master will be willing to strike some kind of bargain with you." He offered, leading them down another hallway, this one full of doors. He opened one of the doors and led them inside.

"Where is this master of yours?" Tidus asked, looking around at the interior of the room. It was a cavern, just like the other room, but there was no floor, it was covered in a heatless blue flame. All the way around the outside was a wide ledge, and on the other side, stairs that led down into the center of the flaming floor.

"He is in the deepest depths of the underworld, at the Pulpit of Eternal Flame. You are not dead yet, so you must be baptized with this fire so be proclaimed properly dead and to allow you to access the Pulpit." He said. They'd walked all the way around the outside and he was now walking down the steps towards the fire. Gippal recoiled.

"Wait a minute! I thought the point here was to be alive again, not be proclaimed dead!" He stated, confused. Larc nodded.

"You will, providing you please my master. You won't be able to even see him to speak with him if you are not baptized." He explained. Still uncertain, the group of the walked down the steps towards him. He took a torch from a hook on the wall and dipped it into the fires. He pulled it out and stared into the flames for a moment. The others watched him intently, apprehensive and almost afraid of what he would do next. Suddenly, he tossed it into the air and it burst into a million pieces. There were a number of shrieks and shouts as the fires began to rain down on them, only to have them find that the fire didn't burn. It felt almost like water that disappeared on contact with their skin. After a moment, and when they were sure the rain of fire had stopped, they looked at each other.

"….I don't feel any different…" Tidus observed. Sora gasped and everyone turned to look at him. He was staring at Kairi, looking worried.

"Kai, you okay?" He asked, put his arms around her and hiding her almost completely from the view of others. She smiled at him.

"Sure, why?" She asked, slightly confused. He sighed, running his thumb across her lower eyelid.

"Your eyes…" He murmured, his voice trailing off. Kairi gasped now as well, looking horrified.

"They're not…" she breathed, not finishing her sentence.

"They're like they were after you fell out of the tree." He told her quietly, looking over her, still worried. Kairi frowned.

"I don't feel panicky…" he told him, sounding a bit nervous. Yuna watched with concern.

"Hey, are you guys okay?" She asked after a moment. Sora nodded.

"I think we'll be alright. Kairi's got a…..bit of a problem." he told them. She came into their view, keeping her eyes glued to the floor. When she looked up at them, she cringed at their muffled gasps. Rikku was the first to speak.

"Kairi, what's up with your eyes…" She asked, her voice barely louder than a breath. Kairi shrugged.

"I went without a heart for a long time, so it kind of affects me sometimes…" she said vaguely. They didn't ask for any more of an explanation, for which she was thankful. Larc didn't seem to have noticed anything. He took them to a door that none of them had realized was there before (Larc said it was because they hadn't been baptized yet) and took them down another set of stairs. The mazes of stairways and hallways seemed endless, and Kairi was constantly looking over her shoulder, seeing fleeting shadows and feeling as if she was being watched. This underworld was not a good place to be in, she decided. Just when the halls seemed to become endless, they entered a room not like any of the others. It was a long room, and the walls were covered in carved faces. Larc started to lead them across the room, but stopped when a spirit appeared in front of him. He glared at it.

"Hitodama. Get out of my way, I have important business to attend to." He growled. The spirit glared back at him.

"Larc. You know the newly-dead aren't allowed in the Shrine of the Silent Faces, much less in the Pulpit of Eternal Flame." it said in an unearthly voice.

"These are different, they are the ones who will free us." He answered. Hitodama laughed, and it sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

"That's what you said last time. And that's why I'm here. To ensure that master doesn't have to deal with any less than competent dragoons and wanna-be heroes." It mocked cruelly. Larc brought himself up to his full height, furious.

"What did you say! You are the incompetent one, you puny Shadole!" He roared. Hitodama was angry now too.

"Puny Shadole, is it? We'll see about that!" With that, he disappeared and the eyes of the faces all began to light up. Then, all at once, the eyes shot a ray of some kind of magic out at them. Each one yelped and leapt out of the way.

"We're not afraid to fight you, Hitodama! Are you too afraid to fight us? Will you hide in the faces or will you have the courage to face us?" Larc shouted, looking around. Hitodama appeared again.

"Fine, have it your way." He said. Larc took a swing at him, but the spirit stepped nimbly out of the way. Suddenly, he froze. Kairi's disk was sticking grotesquely out of his back. He glared at her.

"Nice shot." He spoke mockingly. With a grimace, he pulled it out and tossed it to the ground. He snapped his ghostly fingers and fire jetted out at her. She ducked. Sora smirked, helping Kairi up. He spun, and shot a series of icy blasts out at the spirit from the end of his Keyblade. By the time his attacks had finished, Hitodama had faded into nothing. Sora grinned at Kairi, who matched his smile.

"Nicely done." She congratulated him, sounding impressed. Sora shrugged.

"I'd say you didn't do too bad yourself." He answered. Larc looked surprised.

"I'm very impressed, it took only two of you to take Hitodama down. Well done. I'm sure my master will be pleased." He beckoned for them to follow him, and they immerged into an immense room, surrounded completely by a river of fire. When they spotted this great 'master', Rikku nearly laughed out loud. He was only about 4 feet tall! A little man dressed in an overly large red robe and a matching turban walked up to them and bowed.

"Good evening, I am Drakonis." He said looking at each of them. He turned to Larc. "Who are these newcomers?" He asked.

"These are the ones who will aid us in returning the powers the dragons stole from you." Larc answered confidently. Drakonis nodded.

"How do you know this?" He asked. Larc straighten up and continued.

"Two of them defeated Hitodama faster than I've ever thought possible." He answered, almost proud of their achievement. Drakonis nodded.

"Very well. It seems you have deemed yourselves worthy of returning to the surface." He stated. They all smiled at each other, the relief clear on the faces. "But…"

"Of course there has to be a 'but'…" Paine muttered, crossing her arms.

"But you will be doomed to wander the earth as half souls until you fade into nothingness. That is, unless you help me. If agree to aid me, I will return to you your full lives." He stated. Paine frowned.

"Help you do what?" She asked suspiciously. Drakonis sighed melodramatically.

"I was once the emperor of the dragons, but the three most powerful of the dragons grew jealous, stole my powers, and cast me into the underworld. I need you to aid me by returning the stolen mana from those dragons." He answered. It seemed easy enough.

"We'll do it." Kairi answered. Drakonis beamed at her.

"Wonderful. Here, this may help you on you mission." He handed her a Skull Lantern, another artifact. She took it, and inspected it, finding herself already wondering where it may take them. With a flash, Kairi blinked and rubbed her eyes. They were back outside, the tombstone towering over them once again. Rikku stared at her.

"KAIRI! Your eyes!" She shouted. Kairi frowned.

"No, their not still red, are they!" She asked, fearing the worst.

"No! Their back to their normal colour! Yay!" She shouted. Kairi grinned in spite of herself and walked to the edge of the graveyard. The nothing darkness was everywhere, but she didn't mind. Throwing the artifact as hard as she could, it landed, with the expected explosion and flash, and she looked at the place in created. Her eyes went wide. It was a huge skeleton of a dragon, of such immense size that it seemed that a long time ago, someone had made it their palace. There was a huge field in front of it, bustling with school kids from the magical college in the city of Geo. The whole skeleton was intertwined with any coloured flowers. She smiled slightly. _Now this is more like it._

………………

Whoooooo! Finally got around to doing more important juicy plot! This is signifying dun dun dun the impending end of the fic! WOW! I'd say….hmmm… oh we've got six chappies left? Give or take one. Plus the epilogue. But don't fret, there will be a sequel! Review guys!


	37. The Ghost of Nemesis

To cute-kitty: I know you'd be rather confused, but don't worry, the only characters that you really need to know about are Larc and a character not yet introduced named Sierra. The others were introduced simply to give a feel for the world and to kind of give some background info because the Jumi and some of the other characters will play a few more little parts before this thing is over!

…………………………..

Eight strangers and a dragoon walked through the small gate and into the field where all the students were lounging. Each student wore long robes, with each of them wearing robes coloured according to what class they were in. One student, in blue, walked up to Rikku.

"Hey, who are you?" He asked curiously. Rikku smiled at him.

"My name's Rikku, who are you?" she asked politely. The boy beamed up at her.

"I'm Lunes!" He told her. "I'm from the magic school in Geo." He explained. Yuna walked over.

"And what are all these magic students doing in the middle of this field?" She asked. Lunes brought himself up to his full height and made himself look very important.

"You see, they say a dragon lives in this palace and his presence makes all the herbs that grow around here more potent for our potions!" He told her proudly. At the news that there was a dragon, the others gathered around too.

"What do you know about this dragon?" Baralai asked, eyeing the skeleton palace. Lunes frowned.

"Not very much, but we've been hearing voices, so we don't go too near to the skeleton."

"Voices? What kind of voices?"

"Voices that don't have words. They're kind of scary." Lunes admitted. Gippal walked confidently up to the mouth of the dragon skeleton.

"Hey! Anybody home?" He shouted. All the students were staring at him, many inching away from the skeletal palace. A little woman dressed up as if she was a flower who had been helping the students pick their herbs walked up to him.

"Have respect for the Bone Fortress!" She scolded. "A great dragon lives within!" Gippal ignored her.

"Hello?" He shouted again. Rikku walked over to him.

"I don't think there's anyone there." She observed. Gippal sighed. Then, the mouth of the skeleton opened and a wave of stagnant air rushed out. Rikku started to cough.

"Bah! That dragon had better do something about that breath! It's nasty!" she complained. Gippal grimaced and covered his nose and mouth and started to go inside. He was about to step into the mouth when a human skeleton dressed in armor immerged from the shadows and pushed Gippal roughly away.

"Leave this place." He ordered. Gippal glared at him.

"Make me." He answered defiantly. Yuna rolled her eyes, pulled out her guns and took two clear shots, sending her bullets into the helmet. A moment later, the skeleton warrior crumbled. They tried to go inside, but the skeleton rebuilt itself, blocking their way once again. Rikku sighed.

"You're irking me." She told it plainly. It answered by taking a swing at her with its sword. She squeaked and ducked. Gippal pulled her out of the way. Tidus cut down at the warrior with his brotherhood, cutting off the skeleton's sword hand. Before the skeleton could retrieve it, Yuna kicked it out of the way and transformed into the Black Mage dressphere. She cast Thundaga on it, but to her surprise, it didn't affect the creature, it only electrified his armor, making it dangerous to the touch. Her face fell.

"Oh. Oops." She said, wincing as its gauntlets gazed her arm and zapped her as she tried to avoid being cornered. Tidus and Sora swung at it, taking care to miss the armor, but instead missing the skeleton warrior entirely. Kairi shot her disk at it, hitting the bullseye. The skeleton crumbled again, this time disintegrating into dust. Kairi's eyes widened as the disk flew back at her, to reattach itself to her claws. It crackled as it flew through the air, having transferred the entirety of the charge into itself. She cringed as it reattached and she cried out as her entire arm went numb. Sora ran his fingers over her numb arm, concerned.

"Okay?" He asked, worried. Kairi nodded, moving it around a bit.

"Feels like it fell asleep, it's just kind of numb is all." she answered, walking towards the mouth and continuing to stretch her arm out, wincing. "We'd better go before our friend rebuilds himself again." she told them. The rest followed her inside. They found themselves in a shadowy room, with no where to go but back out, the only thing inside was three pedestals.

"Where to now?" Paine asked Larc. Larc was at a loss. Why would Drakonis have sent them on a wild goose chase? Kairi was inspecting one of the pedestals. Leaning on it, she found it sunk a little into the floor. Surprised, yanked her hand back from it and stared. A moment later, there was a crash and the mouth of the huge skeleton slammed shut. Rikku squeaked.

"We're stuck!" Paine rolled her eyes.

"Thank you Captain Obvious." she said sarcastically. "Now what?" Looking around, no one saw what they might be able to do to find an escape. No one except Kairi. She was still inspecting the pedestal that had sunk a little ways into the floor. Since then, it had slowly risen up the inch or so, to its normal height. Looking at how the pedestal was attached to the floor, she saw it was sitting in a hole that was chiseled out of the stone floor. The once sharp edges of the hole had been worn down, as if something had been grinding against it. Quietly, she walked over to the next pedestal. It looked the same way. Everyone else was watching her now. She put a bit of pressure on the top of this new pedestal and found that it too began to sink a little. The final pedestal was like the others as well. Looking up, she smiled.

"I think this is our way out." She said, pointing to each of the pedestals. "They all sink into the floor, and there has to be a reason for it. Maybe this is the key to getting into the rest of the palace."

"Okay, but how about getting out again?" Gippal asked. Larc shook his head.

"We'll find our way out when we come to need a way out. For now, our priority is hunting the dragon." He ordered. Kairi went and stood by the first pedestal. Larc walked over to the second one and Baralai stood by the third.

"On the count of three." Kairi said, placing her hands on the top of the pedestal. The other two followed suit. "Ready? One, two….THREE!" At that, all of them pushed. It was much harder than any of them had expected it to be. They were able to push them down some of the way, but something kept them from pushing it down any further. Kairi, frustrated, climbed on top of her pedestal and started jumping up and down on it. The pedestal went down a little further, but it still didn't help much. Yuna and Tidus walked over to Larc and began to help him. The pedestal started to slide further down with all three of them pushing. Paine and Rikku hurried over to Baralai to give him a hand, and Gippal and Sora went to help Kairi. In a few moments, the pedestals were locked into place in the floor. There was a moment of silence in which all that could be heard was the heavy breathing of everyone. It was surprising how hard they had to work to get the pedestals to move. Everyone froze when a low rumble began. As it got louder, the floor began to shake. The roof seemed to start collapsing down on them. Kairi dropped to her knees, covering her head. Sora backed into the wall, protecting his face. Gippal crossed his arms over his head, bracing himself to be hit with the falling stone and bone. Then, all at once, the rumbling stopped. Kairi's eyes snapped open and she looked up. The breath was pulled from her throat. After a moment, she was finally able to speak.

"Uh, guys? I think we're in the castle now…" She said, staring around. They were in a lavishly furnished room, with a huge window opening out to the field far below. Kairi got to her feet and found herself wondering how high up they were, and how they possibly got there. Sora and Gippal were just as surprised at their surrounding as she was. Blinking, she realized that they were the only ones with her. Slapping her hand over her mouth, she muffled a gasp. Sora looked at her.

"What's wrong?" He asked, worried and on edge.

"We're the only ones here." She said slowly. Both Gippal and Sora looked confused. Suddenly, Gippal understood.

"Where's Rikku!" He asked, looking around. Kairi didn't want to say it, but she was afraid that no one had made it out of the collapsing entry hall but them. Sora frowned.

"We're gonna have to look for them. Maybe they were sent to a different part of the fortress because they pushed a different pedestal." He reasoned. Kairi breathed a quiet sigh. _I hope your right Sora…_

The three walked out of the room and into a hall. They searched each of the rooms branching off, but found it was fruitless. There didn't seem to be anywhere to go from where they were, and no one else was in the rooms. Kairi wandered hopelessly into one random room, Sora following her glumly.

"Who are you?" The voice made both of them jump. Spinning to find its source, they spotted another skeleton warrior. Kairi yelped in surprise and clenched her fists, ready to fight it, just as they had the last one. Sora sliced his Keyblade through the air menacingly. Gippal, having heard Kairi's cry, looking inside the room and glared at the skeleton.

"Not another one." He said, exasperated. The skeleton warrior looked surprised.

"You seem to need aid?" He offered politely. Gippal, Sora and Kairi were all taken aback.

"We'd like out of here…" Sora told it suspiciously. The skeleton warrior nodded and motioned towards a wall. They stared at it, confused. After a moment, the wall crumbled away, revealing a door. Surprised, Kairi thanked the warrior quickly and they hurried into the room. It looked like all the others that they'd searched in before, but there was another door. It probably just led to a hall similar to the one they'd searched before, but there was always that chance that their missing friends were here. Kairi walked quickly over to the door and pulled it open. She ran headlong into Paine. Both girls stumbled back in surprise, and then stared at each other, even more surprised. Kairi grinned sheepishly.

"Hi Paine." Paine crossed her arms.

"We've been looking everywhere for you. Where were you?" She asked, almost angry. Kairi almost laughed.

"We've been looking for you." She replied, her relief making her almost giddy. Paine walked into the room and sat down on a chair, followed by Baralai, and then….

"Rikku!" Gippal walked over to her and swept her off her feet, kissing her. Rikku giggled. Kairi started laughing.

"Aww! Aren't you cute!" She teased. Both of them turned red and glared at her. She just laughed all the more. Baralai was looking around the room curiously, almost as if he was searching for something.

"Where's Larc?" He asked after a moment.

"Who cares, I'd be glad to be rid of him." Gippal answered.

"Maybe, but Yuna and Tidus are probably with him." Baralai reasoned. At this, everyone's faces fell.

"Guess we'd better get looking then." Sora decided after a moment, walking out the door. The hall was indeed much like the one they'd already searched, but for one difference: the huge door at one end. It looked like it led somewhere important. Everyone else piled out into the hallway behind him. He looked at Baralai.

"Where does that lead?" Baralai shrugged.

"Don't know. We haven't looked in there yet." He answered. Paine was already down the hall and pushing the door open. Getting a look inside, she was tempted to swear. It looked much like the entry hall they'd just come from, except that there was only one pedestal. She walked inside, looking for a door. Just as she had expected, there wasn't one. The rest of the group entered, and upon seeing the pedestal, all their faces fell. Kairi pouted and sat on the pedestal, knowing that it would take much more than her weight to push it down. Or not. She cried out as the pedestal fell freely into the floor, jarring her back as it came to a sudden stop. Everyone was staring at her. She frowned. They all waited for the rumbling to start, but it never did. Instead, there was a creaking sound. At the front of the room (behind Kairi) was a relief of a dragon underneath an arching frame, or what they thought was a frame. The relief began to lift, revealing the arch to be a new doorway. Kairi twisted around to see what everyone was staring at, and stood up, relieved. She walked through the arch and found herself in a large circular cage like enclosure. A spirit that reminded Kairi very much of Hitodama was sitting in the middle of the room.

"Where to?" It asked. Kairi stared at it.

"Huh?" Gippal asked, watching the spirit suspiciously.

"Where to?" It asked again. "You're on the first floor, you can go to the second or the third." It explained.

"The third." Rikku answered. Paine looked at her, curious.

"…why?" she asked after a moment. Rikku shrugged.

"Why not? We're going to have to search them both anyway, so who cared which on we start on?" With a jolt, the cage enclosure began to move upward. It was an elevator. Baralai could help but find it odd that there was an elevator in a skeleton. The elevator stopped again, and a door opened.

"Third floor!" The spirit announced professionally. They stepped out and found themselves in a room like the entry hall, except that it had no pedestals. There was a person standing in the middle of the room. They all watched her curiously. As she turned to face them, they found she looked rather wolfish, like Larc, and also had armor similar to Larc's except that hers was white and blue. She glared at them.

"So, you are Drakonis's new Champions of Hell." He spat. Kairi blinked.

"Champions of Hell? We're not Champions of Hell, we're just out to help him get his stolen mana back." Kairi explained patiently. The woman laughed.

"Stolen mana? So that was his lie, then." Gippal glared at her.

"If Drakonis was lying, than tell us what's really going on." He demanded. The woman shook her head.

"No, that would be a waste of breath. Even if I did tell you, I'd still have to kill you."

"Kill us? Why?" Sora asked, angry.

"Because you are minions of Drakonis, and I am Sierra, the dragoon of the White Dragon…sworn enemies. And because if I kill you, I won't have to kill Larc." She answered. Before anyone got the chance to ask her what she meant, she pulled out two knives and leapt at them. Kairi ducked out of the way, slashing with her claws but missing. Gippal shot but found Sierra moved so fast that he couldn't get a clear shot at her. Sora fenced with her for a moment, but only to have her dive and him and he only just was able to dodge the attack. By the time he had reoriented himself, she'd nearly wounded Baralai, and the only attack of theirs yet to have hit her was Rikku who managed to steal something from her. Then, Sierra made a mistake. She dodged an attack but cornered herself in doing so. Paine happened to be standing in the right place at the right time and as Sierra spun, she found herself standing with Paine's sword at her throat. Paine glared at her.

"Explain yourself." She ordered. Sierra glared at her and disappeared into thin air. Paine faltered, surprised. Baralai blinked.

"Where'd she go?" He asked, rather bewildered. Rikku grinned.

"Who cares, look what I got." She held up a small key. "I stole it from her. I don't know where it leads, but I'm sure she'll be right mad when she finds out I scoffed it." She told them, beaming. With that, she started across the room and opened a door.

"Where are you going?" Paine asked. Rikku shrugged.

"Looking for Larc and Yunie and Tidus." she answered, disappearing into the hallway. Paine followed her, but found that once she reached the hallway, Rikku seemed to have disappeared. By the time everyone else found her, she was standing in front of a door, looking bewildered. A banging sound came from the other side and she jumped back.

"What's that?" Kairi asked, surprised. Rikku shrugged, looking a little afraid. Suddenly, Gippal snatched the key away from Rikku and walked up to the door. He placed the key in the lock and grinned.

"Perfect fit. Ah Rikku, I knew you were good for something." He said. Rikku glared at him. He opened the door, and Larc came stumbling out. Paine crossed her arms.

"Why were you banging on the door? Were you trying to break it down or what?" She asked sarcastically. Larc glared at her.

"How else was I supposed to find a way out?" he asked. Yuna and Tidus came out a moment later. Rikku beamed at them and almost knocked Yuna over when the Al Bhed decided to hug her cousin. They all piled into the room that Yuna, Tidus and Larc had come from. Paine spotted another door.

"Why couldn't you guys have just gone out that door?" She asked.

"Because that door was locked too. And were heard noise coming from that direction and figured it was you guys." Yuna answered. Paine nodded.

"That noise was probably from our little confrontation with Sierra." She answered. "Come to think of it… Sierra said she had to kill us because she didn't want to kill Larc." She looked at the dragoon in question. "Why is that Larc?" she asked. However, Larc ignored her, took the key from Gippal and unlocked the other door.

"Are we going or not?" He asked gruffly, disappearing down the next hallway. Paine glowered at him and followed along with the others. This hallway was different from the others. There were windows all along both sides and instead of a floor there was a bridge that crossed the huge chasm that stretched out in the darkness below. As she crossed, Yuna found herself wondering what was in that darkness below. She'd fallen into enough supposedly bottomless pits to know that there's always a bottom, and there's always something interesting. Her thoughts were pulled back to the present with a crash. Larc kicked open the huge double doors at the other side of the bridge and was standing waiting for them. Together, they entered the huge room beyond the door. It looked like a throne room. Sitting regally and waiting for them was a hideous looking dragon.

"There's mana here." Larc muttered. "Jajara. I wish to return the mana you stole to my master!" He announced. The dragon watched him emotionlessly.

"Stole? Larc, you are greatly misguided. I did not steal mana from your master. I will defend my mana stone with my life." He answered.

"Fine! Than I shall fight you for it!" Larc bellowed in rage. Jajara's great wings unfolded and he launched himself up high above them. After hovering for a moment, inspecting them, he dove down at them, prepared to attack. Kairi shot her disk, Gippal and Yuna fired bullets at the creature before he even got close to them. He faltered, injured. Rikku jumped up and caught the tail. The tail snapped, forcing her to let go and sending her flying up at the dragon's belly. She jammed her weapons deep into the stomach before kicking off and landing on the ground. The wing beats weakened, and Jajara fell to the ground with a crash. Rikku grinned.

"That was easy." She noted. Larc started towards the door behind the throne. That is, until Gippal shouted.

"WHAT IS IT WITH THESE THINGS AND REBUILDING THEMSELVES!" Jajara had managed to rebuild himself, grotequely and even more hideously than before perhaps, but nonetheless, the dragon was alive and once again willing to fight. Frustrated, Gippal shot bullet after bullet at the newly formed dragon. Jajara was clearly weakened, and in a last ditch attempt to keep Larc from the mana stone, he ran himself into the roof, sending the entire roof crashing down on them. Taking relative cover along the walls, they waited the rain of stone and bone to end. Kairi sighed, deciding that this reminded her too much of the incident in the entry hall. Slowly, the huge stones became pelting rubble, and then nothing at all. After a moment, they starting back across the room again, following Larc to the door behind the thone. He pushed it open, and within was a small room. At the center was a small stone floating in the air, radiating blue light of almost blinding intensity. Larc took it and the stone's brightness faded enough that they could look at it. Nodding, Larc put it into a small bag and smiled at the others.

"As a small token of thanks from my master for you help so far." He said, handing a Wind Bottle to Yuna. Yuna thanked him and they went back into the throne room. Rikku frowned.

"Now, how do we get out of here?" She asked. Tidus spotted a window and looked outside it, staring off into space as he tried to think of a way to get out. Suddenly, Baralai shouted from behind him.

"Tidus! You're a genius!" He announced. Tidus spun around to look at him, bewildered. Baralai looked out the window. "The spine makes a perfect ladder to climb to the ground on! Great idea!" Tidus looked a little confused still, but smiled.

"Uh, thanks…" With that, he climbed onto the window sill and jumped the few feet down onto the spine. He had intended to land and start climbing, but the momentum hadn't let him stop and he slid down on his feet, similar to the way he and all of Yuna's other guardians had made it to Yuna's wedding to Seymour to save her. He could hear Rikku laughing as she slid down the spine after him. One by one, they jumped down and followed. The spine went all the way down the tail, which ended not far from the mouth. The students, who'd all moved as far away from the skeleton as they could after the explosion of Jajara hitting the ceiling, stared as the group came tumbling off the tail, ending up in a large pile in the middle of the field. Getting up and brushing herself off, Yuna grinned at the students.

"Umm, hi." The students continued to stare, and the group left the Bone Fortress, starting back on their way to the house as night began to fall. Larc said he would have to return to the Underworld, but that he would be waiting for them the next day. Standing next to the Tomb Stone, Larc was about to reenter the Underworld.

"Wait a sec." Kairi said, breaking the silence. Larc looked at her. "Why was Sierra so intent on killing us instead of you?" She asked, knowing Larc had avoided the question earlier. Larc's face fell. Touching the Tombstone, he gave his answer.

"She's my sister."

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DUN DUN DUN! The plot thickens! Yay! Review everybody!


	38. Tears of the Windcallers

A beautiful mountain with a quiant village at the bottom. Why must those terrible mana-stealing dragons choose such beautiful places to hide. Kairi sighed. She hated to think that not even a majestic mountain could be pure of the terrible things that take place. The village was deserted. Stepping inside the gates, the silence enveloped the group.

"Look!" Rikku said quickly, pointing and launching herself into a sprint. There was a tall figure cloaked in blue disappearing down one of the streets. The group set off at a run after it. Rounding a corner, they stopped quickly. A group of bird people dressed in blue and green cloaks stood blocking the gate that led to the foot of the mountain. The one that had been running away from them stepped out of the group and glared at them.

"You are not welcome here! Especially you, dragoon." It glared at Larc. If looks could kill, that blue-cloaked bird would have been dead 10 times over.

"You do you think you are?" Larc growled. One of the ones cloaked in green stepped forward, its nose (or I guess beak) in the air.

"We are the Windcallers, dragoons of the Dragon Akravator." It said haughtily.

"Then let me through so I may return to my master the mana stolen by Akravator." Larc answered.

"I dare you to try." The green cloaked dragoon answered. In answer, Larc pushed through them toward the foot of the mountain. Crying out, the Windcallers spread their wings, which had been hidden by the cloaks, and began to beat Larc with them. Trying to protect himself from the attacks, he threw something on the ground and with a snap, he had disappeared and reappeared just in front of Paine and Baralai. Still shrieking, the Windcallers flew off in a flurry, disappearing into the mists of the mountain.

"That was pretty cowardly." Baralai decided. Larc spun and glared at him.

"What?" He shouting, thinking Baralai had called him a coward.

"Not you, them." Baralai answered quickly. They started up the mountain with relative ease. Coming to a fork in the path, they found that one way was blocked by a statue. Curious, Yuna walked up to it and touched it. There was a zapping sound and Yuna jumped back, yelping in surprise. A green coloured ripple expanded outward from where she'd touched, continuing until it revealed the entirety of whatever shield was there, blocking their way. Paine sighed.

"How much do you wanna bet that's the way we need to go to get to the dragon?" She asked glumly. Tidus frowned.

"This is kind of frustrating." He noted. "First we couldn't get into the bone fortress, but when we finally did, we ended up having to run through countless halls looking for each other before we could finally get to Jajara. Now, we have to run around and find out what's making this shield so we can get rid of it before we can go get this Akarvater or whatever." He sighed. Rikku shrugged.

"But can you blame them? They're evil dragons, so of course they're going to try to stop us, not to mention the fact that we're out to kill them." At that, she started down the other path. "I say its one of those dumb Windcaller dudes that's made this shield-y thingy. Let's go find him so we can get on with this!"

They wandered the paths of the mountain, almost getting lost a number of times. Hitting another dead end (they'd already lost count of how many other dead ends they'd ended up in), Paine drove her sword into the ground, getting frustrated.

"Haven't we already been here?" Sora asked wearily.

"I dunno…" Tidus answered, just as weary. Suddenly, Rikku and Kairi gasped at the same time.

"Look!"

"It's a hidden…"

"SECRET PASSAGE!" Their shouts muffled each other's words, but Rikku's last statement was certainly heard.

"A secret passage?" Gippal asked, interested. Rikku ran over to a pile of rock. There were random patched of trees growing on the mountain, though they were scraggly and dying due to lack of water and soil. Rikku pulled something out of her bag and threw it at a tree near the rock pile. It was a bomb. With a loud boom, bits of the tree and some rock went flying, but after the dust settled, the new opening revealed a passage among the rock.

"I bet that nasty Windcaller's up there!" She shouted excitedly. Kairi nodded and the two girls ran up the passage, with Sora and Gippal chasing after them and everyone else following just behind. Both Kairi and Rikku stopped suddenly when they reached the end of the passage and found themselves standing on a huge flat slab of stone that hung over the side of the mountain, with the Windcaller in question standing twenty feet away, in the center of the slab.

"I will protect my master with my life!" The Windcaller shouted heroically. Kairi rollder her eyes, but stumbled backwards in surprise when a number of lightning bolts that didn't seem to originate from anywhere stuck the Windcaller. It shrieked and leapt into the air, hovering and staring around angrily. Kairi turned around and saw Sora standing behind her, swinging his Keyblade idly and grinning boyishly. Kairi giggled in spite of herself, but was cut short when a handful of metal feathers came flying at her like darts. She yelped and pivoted just out of the way, glaring at the Windcaller.

"You're gonna pay for that." She told it matter-of-factly. It glared back at her, beating its wings and lift itself higher into the air. She swung her arm up and shot her disk at it. The Windcaller moved enough that it wasn't seriously injured, but Kairi's disk did essentially clip its wings. Shrieking, it fell to the ground most ungracefully. Scrambling back up, it was on its feet on time to be knocked over again as Rikku came flying at it, kicking it back to the ground and snatching something from it. Backing away from the dragoon and admiring her prize, she tripped over a stone jutting out and fell. The small orb that she held went flying and smashed against a rock. The Windcaller's face fell.

"No! The shield orb!" Gippal raised his eyebrows at the creature.

"So that's the thing that made that shield. Well, I guess we won't have to bother with you anymore." He stated, grinning and walking back down the passage. A little ways down he saw the others. "You people need to hurry up! The fun's all over!" He shouted. Rikku tossed a bomb at the helpless Windcaller. It exploded in a mass of blue gases and the Windcaller dropped to the ground, fast asleep.

"Just to make sure he's not going to bother us again for a little while." She explained, running to catch up to Gippal. Sora and Kairi were walking side by side, pretty much alone as they walked down the path together.

"So, that lightning spell was you, right?" She asked casually. Sora laughed.

"Yeh, who did you think it was?" He asked. Kairi shrugged, skipping ahead a little and then turning around and walking backwards to grin at him.

"I dunno, you never really know I guess. I just wanted to make sure." She explained, turning back around so she was facing forward. There was a pause. A pair of hands grabbed Kairi's shoulders unexpectedly and she jumped. It was Sora. She tried to glare at him, but she looked neighter angry or intimidating, because she was trying to keep from laughing. He grinned micheviously.

"Of course you'd want to make sure. You never know what kind of monsters lurk in these mountains." He teased. Kairi stuck her tongue out at him, giggling helplessly. They stopped walking as Kairi kissed him quickly. She started to pull away but Sora caught her and kissed her again, this time a lingering kiss. He could feel Kairi smiling against his lips. They parted only for air and started kissing again. For a few minutes, they managed to forget where they were, Kairi managed to forget her sense of impending doom that she constantly fought. A voice brought them back to reality.

"You guys planning on helping get to Akravator or are you going to stay here and continue slobber on each other?" Paine asked, amused. Both Kairi and Sora glared at her, turning beet red and following her back out of the passage. "You two are sure lively for half-dead people." She noted lazily. (AN: They're still all half-souls, Drakonis will only return their full souls to them once they complete their mission). The others waiting for them looked surprised when they saw the two that had fallen behind. Yuna grinned.

"What were you guys doing up there?" She asked accusingly. Sora shrugged.

"Nothing, just kissing." He answered quietly. Gippal grinned evilly.

"I'd say from the colour of your faces that you were doing a little more than that." He poked. Kairi crossed her arms.

"That's right, we were _slobbering on each other_." She answered sarcastically, grinning a little as she glared at Paine. Gippal and Rikku died laughing. Yuna and Tidus both tried to keep from laughing but found that they couldn't and soon gave up on their efforts. Paine grinned evilly and Baralai barely managed to keep from breaking into laughter with the rest of them, but still did manage it. Only the stone-faced Larc didn't laugh.

"Let's hurry up then." He said gruffly, starting back in the direction he hoped led to the statue and the now-gone shield. Rikku scowled.

"_Somebody_'s a party-pooper." She said airily while Gippal rolled his eyes and the group set off in search of the statue. The path back was much more straightforward that it had been getting there. They found the statue with relative ease. Larc and Sora pushed it over so they could step over it. Walking up the path, they came to another fork.

"Damn it!" Larc shouted, frustrated. There was another statue, and yet another field barring their way. This time though, as they went the other way in search of the Windcaller, it was easy to find. There was only one straight path, any others branching off were dead ends visible from the main pathway. Continuing to walk, Yuna stopped very suddenly, and everyone else behind her nearly walked into each other. She turned around.

"The Windcaller's just beyond that corner." She whispered. "We know what we're looking for, so Rikku and Kairi, you two sneak attack him and hopefully you can steal it without problem." She said. Kairi and Rikku nodded. Kairi peeked around the corner. The Windcaller was standing with its back to them, holding the shield orb protectively. At every little sound it would cast a penetrating glance over its shoulder.

"Ready?" Kairi whispered. Rikku nodded.

"Go." The Al Bhed whispered in reply. The two girls ran silently at the creature. It didn't seem to notice them. Once they were only about two feet away from it, it spun, casting feather darts like the ones that the other Windcaller had thrown out in every direction. Kairi yelped and dropped to the ground, sliding into the Windcallers legs and sending them both tumbling. Rikku just barely dodged the attack and scrambled to re-orient herself, dead set on helping Kairi. Sora, still on the other side of the corner, grabbed his Keyblade and took aim for a spell. Only problem was that he couldn't get a clear shot. He'd hit the Windcaller, but he was pretty much guaranteed to hit Kairi too. The Windcaller had Kairi pinned on the ground, her arms at her sides. There wasn't much she could do, her claws were usless as long as her arms were pinned, and her legs couldn't do much of anything either as the Windcaller was sitting on them. Rikku was running to her aid, but as she tried to tackle the bird off Kairi, it ducked and instead Rikku fell over its body and went flying through the air, hitting the ground most ungracefully. Cringing, she sat up.

"Ouch…" Kairi meanwhile was getting desperate. Gippal and Yuna were both trying to take aim at the Windcaller now too, but still they couldn't shoot it and not hit Kairi. Getting an idea, she clenched her fists tight. The Windcaller was holding her down by her wrists. She managed to hit the trigger for her disk and it launched out of its cradle, embedding into the Windcaller's wing. It screeched and sat up, freeing Kairi's arms. She saw the orb, hanging from a chain around its neck. She slashed, breaking the orb and catching the creature in the chest. It shrieked and rolled off of her. She scrambled to her feet with a little help from Rikku and both girls ran as fast as they could back towards everyone else. Running around the corner, Kairi ran into Gippal and tumbled into Sora. She grinned.

"I got the orb." She told them happily, her face flushed. Rikku grinned.

"Nice job Kairi! Only, where's you disk?" She asked, noticing the absence of the weapon. Kairi shrugged.

"Stuck in the Windcaller's wing I s'pose." She answered. There was another shriek from the Windcaller. Tidus made a face.

"I think if we stick around, the Windcaller's gonna want some revenge." He noted. Larc nodded.

"Sound like a plan. Let's get out of here."

Out of breath, they reached the now-unshielded statue. They had run the entire way back, fearing that a very angry Windcaller was following them. They found now, as they stood for a moment to catch their breath and address the girls' minor injuries that the Windcaller had retreated to deal with its own wounds. The quiet that surrounded them as they rested and treated the bruises on both Kairi and Rikku was broken only by the occasional murmur of conversation. A huge explosion interrupted the relaxation. Gippal was standing near the rubble (which was all that was now left of the statue) grinning.

"Ummm, I blew it up." He said after a moment. Rikku rolled her eyes.

"Duh. Now we'd better go because the dragon dude probably heard that. So much for the element of surprise." She glared at Gippal. Gippal frowned.

"Hey, you blew up the tree, now it's my turn to blow something up." He retorted. Rikku just rolled her eyes. They walked up the new pathway and foundthemselves standing in front of a cave. It wasn't really a cave, it was more like a short tunnel. Short enough that they could see clearly what was on the other side. It was becoming more and more apparent that this wasn't just any mountain, it was a dormant volcano. And the dragon had chosen to take shelter at the summit, inside the bowl of what once was boiling lava, but was now filled with smooth black stone, almost glasslike. They were all rather taken aback. Except for Larc. The dragoon walked firmly into the cave and emerged on the other side. The others followed slowly. As they walked, they could hear the conversation.

"Give me the mana stone and I will spare your life!"

"You don't see what Drakonis is really doing, do you Larc?"

"He is returning to his rightful place as the Emperor of Dragons!"

"He is deceiving you, and you must learn that before it's too late."

"I know what Drakonis is doing! Do not take me for a fool! He had not deceived me any more than I have deceived him."

"Than you must have greatly deceived him." There was a long silence after that. The others were almost through the tunnel now. Larc's answer was only a growl. They saw him leap at the dragon. They started at a run, but a force threw them back. When they looked up, they found that the tunnel had been blocked by rubble. Rikku glanced at Gippal.

"Here's your chance to blow things up to your heart's content." She told him, grabbing a handful of bombs and ordering everyone to back up. Gippal grinned almost insanely and the pair of them tossed their bombs into the air, turned on the heel and ran for cover. The explosion rocked the entire mountain and sent the whole side of the summit collapsing down on them. They raced out of the tunnel. Coughing and trying to see through the dust, Gippal grinned.

"Maybe that was a bit too big of an explosion." He observed. Rikku grinned back at him.

"Are you kidding me? That was AWESOME!" She shouted excited. Gippal laughed in spite of himself as she scrambled across the rubble. He followed her quickly, with everyone else running after them, appearing like ghosts out of the dust, one by one. By the time they reached Larc and the dragon, both were severely injured. All it took was one slash from each Paine, Tidus and Sora for Akravator to collapse. Larc was well enough to walk and refused any healing that they offered him. He found the mana stone, and once he took it in his hand, he seemed to heal. Rikku crossed her arms.

"How many more of those stones do we need?" She asked.

"One." Larc answered simply. "Here." He handed Rikku the Green Cane, their next artifact. They all stood back out on the flat stone surface, and found the Windcaller that Kairi had injured earlier standing near one of the walls. It would have come to them, but it was propping himself up on the wall, otherwise it would have collapsed. It was standing near what was left of the cave, so as they exited, it spoke.

"Why?" Everyone stopped and looked at the Windcaller, confused. Larc glared pitilessly at him.

"What?" He asked sharply. The Windcaller was silent for a moment, piecing together its words.

"Why do you kill for Drakonis?" It stared at Larc, fighting to survive long enough to hear Larc's answer. Larc didn't answer. After a moment, he turned around and walked away.

"Shut up, stupid bird." He could be heard muttering angrily. Slowly, a sense of guilt now weighing heavily upon them, they followed Larc. It took a long moment after entering the crevasse passage that would lead to the foot of the mountain for anyone to realize that they were missing two. And even then, everyone was so absorbed in their own thoughts and feelings after the revelation caused in each of them by the dying Windcaller that only Sora and Tidus noticed that Kairi and Yuna were missing. Turning silently around, they headed back up to the summit to look for them. It didn't take very long to them to find the girls. The pair were sitting against a rock, not far from where they'd been standing when the Windcaller spoke to them, nearly hidden in the cloud of dust that was still floating. Yuna's usually bright and beautiful mismatched eyes were now dull. Seeing Tidus kneeling down beside her out of the corner of her eye, she looked at him.

"Tidus, I'm supposed to be a protector, giving my own life so others can live. I'm not supposed to be a killer." She said, her voice hollow.

"I know." Tidus replied, feeling the same way. "We're not killers Yuna." He assured her. _Though I sure as hell feel like one._

Sora sat silently, letting Kairi cry into his shoulder. What was there for him to say? Her sobs subsided into hiccups and she looked up at him.

"What are we doing?" She asked quietly, sounding as if her question was really her pleading for him to tell her that she had imagined it, she had dreamed it, that they weren't really 'Champions of Hell', as Sierra had called them. He shook his head.

"I don't know."

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Arg, what a depressing chapter. Well, a depressing end of a chapter. Anyways, I'm seriously on a roll today! Whoohoo! Review guys! PS: the last chappie should have been up much earlier, but the login was messed up, so there!


	39. Dragon Princess

OMG! There are quite possibly only 3 chappies left (though they be long ones)! AND THAT'S INCLUDING THIS ONE! gasp However, you can still expect an epilogue after that (aka, a preview of the sequel!)

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Sitting in the pub in Domina, the group of adventurers all agreed: something had to be done.

"Drakonis is not exactly being truthful." Paine said simply. Baralai nodded.

"So, what do we do?" He asked.

"Confront Larc." Yuna suggested. Paine shook her head.

"That'll send him running back to his master and then we'll be stuck as half-souls until we fade into nothingness."

"Then we stop him." Tidus answered.

"We're not going to kill him." Kairi intervened.

"Too much blood has been spilled on his behalf." Baralai added. There was a murmur of agreement.

"So then what do we do?" Yuna asked.

"We keep going like there's nothing wrong for now." Gippal answered. Yuna was going to argue, but Gippal continued. "There's still one more dragon. The fights are always confusing, so during it, we will take him aside and demand that he not take the last stone back to Drakonis on pain of death."

"But I just said we can't kill him." Kairi argued. Gippal smirked.

"I never said we had to follow through on our threat." He replied.

"How do we get our souls back from Drakonis then?" Sora asked.

"Larc isn't a bad person. I just don't think he knows that Drakonis is lying to him. Once we can convince him of that, we can return to the Underworld with him to retrieve our souls, and give Drakonis a fake stone instead of the real one." Kairi suggested.

"Do you think he'll fall for it?" Rikku asked. Kairi shrugged.

"I guess we could demand that he gives us our souls before we give him the stone." She answered.

"In the Underworld, he's in a position of power. If he decides he doesn't like that idea, he could just kill us and take it himself." Paine said, shaking her head.

"First things first, let's get Larc in with us on this. He'll probably know better than we do." Baralai said. That ended the conversation. They got up and started back to the house, getting ready for the task ahead of them.

The White Forest was a very pleasant place. There were so many bright flowers, and the trees made the sunlight dance green on the forest floor.

"My senses are slightly off in this place, but the dragon's presence is strong. I'll be able to tell you if we're going the right way." He said, taking the lead. They'd only walked a few paced when a figure dropped out of the tree branches onto the ground in front of them.

"Champions of Hell." She greeted them sarcastically. She looked at the red-armored dragoon for a long moment. "Larc."

"Sierra." He greeted her just as coldly.

"Larc, stop this madness. Drakonis is using you. He is plotting something terrible." She told him. Her voice was firm, but even so, there was that hint of pleading in it.

"I know." Larc answered. Everyone stared at him.

"You knew!" Paine asked, her voice deadly quiet. She was still for a moment, then, in a sudden flurry of movement, she took a swing at him with her sword. Larc made no move to react. Instead, Sierra stopped the attack with her knives, glaring at Paine.

"Let him explain." She commanded. Paine glared back at her.

"Why? You yourself seemed dead set against stopping him, why this pity now?" She asked coldly. Sierra's eyes hardened.

"Because he's my brother! Now let him speak!" There was silence. Larc cleared his throat.

"I know Drakonis is using the mana stones to return to this world. Drakonis would have found a way back to the surface eventually anyways, but this way, I still have control. As I take the mana stone for him, I gain as much power as he does, and when he gets the final stone, he will try to return to the surface, but I will be able to stop him."

"Larc, Drakonis is far more powerful than you, even if you have the powers of the mana stones as well. No matter what happens, you will remain his dragoon and he will have power over you." Sierra told him earnestly. Larc shook his head vigorously.

"I _will_ return to the surface and rid the world of Drakonis forever." He answered softly. Then, he face went hard. "Now get out of my way!" He barked. Sierra shook her head in disappointment and disappeared into the trees. Larc started down the path and the others followed, each silently trying to figure out what to do now. Larc's plan had holes in it, but because of Larc's plan, so now did theirs.

"Vandise." Larc's grumbling voice snapped Kairi out of her thought. _Oh no! It's the dragon! What do we do now?_ She wondered hurriedly.

"Larc." Vandise answered. This dragon didn't seem threatened or angry at Larc as all the rest had been.

"I'm here for the mana stone." Larc said, preparing to fight the majestic dragon for it. Vandise smiled slightly.

"Take it. It's through there." He answered, pointing his tail to a chamber underneath a tree root just behind him. Larc blinked, taking a moment to realize what the dragon just said.

"You're just going to let him take it?" Yuna cried before she could stop herself. Vandise nodded.

"Indeed. He would only have taken it anyways, had I chosen to fight for it, but all that would have created would be more bloodshed." He answered. They were speechless as they watched Larc walk into the chamber, watching Vandise suspiciously, thinking that perhaps it was a trap. Everything was stalk still for a moment. Then, Larc reemerged from the chamber, placing the stone in his bag. He brushed past Yuna and Paine, walking steadily out of the forest. After she reacted from her shock, Rikku turned and was about to run off after him in a last ditch attempt to stop him from going back to Drakonis.

"Wait." Vandise commanded. Rikku did as she was told. "There's no use trying to stop from happening what is inevitable." The dragon told them. "Drakonis's rise was inevitable, but so is his fall. Once he regains power, he will become arrogant. That is the time for you to strike at him."

"And there's no way you are going without me." Sierra told them, walking up behind them. Gippal looked mildly surprised and confused.

"I thought you hated us." He noted. Sierra shrugged.

"You're going after Drakonis. After what he did to my brother, I want a piece of the fun." She admitted.

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I know, I know, this chappie's unbelieveably short, but no worries! The next one will be unbelievably long! I promise! Review!


	40. Dragoon's Oath of Revenge

To Antimusicman: Thanks for the suggestion, I was kind of wondering what had suddenly gone missing out of my writing! I'll try to add some, but I think the problem lies in that I haven't played LoM in like a billion years, so it's not like the details are entirely that fresh in my mind… but I will try nonetheless! I think I'm also kind of pushing the fic to finish, because I'm so looking forward to starting the sequel :P

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Sierra led the group desisively out of the forest and to the Tombstone. The clouds were twisting angrily above them. Kairi frowned.

"It's going to storm, I think." She noted. Sierra stared at her.

"What are you talking about? It hasn't rained here since…who knows when! It's not going to storm. That's why everything here is so dead." She answered, not even bothering to look up. Almost as if it was on queue, a rain drop landed squarely on the dragoon's nose. She stared at it. Kairi giggled helplessly as Sierra went cross-eyed looking in surprise at the rain drop. The dragoon shook her head vigorously and looked up. Now she saw the clouds, and the sheet of rain that was starting to fall towards them. She sighed.

"I don't know whether this is a good sign or a bad one." She admitted. "In any case, let's get moving." At that, she touched the tombstone and disappeared, melting into the stone. Yuna followed suit, then Tidus, Sora, Kairi, Paine, Baralai, Rikku and Gippal. One by one, they dropped to the ground in the Underworld, cringing as they hit the stone floor.

"Damn, why does Drakonis have to make that hurt so much?" Gippal muttered, standing up. Sierra rolled her eyes, thinking that was a rather stupid question, but smiling nonetheless. They walked carefully down the staircase, making their way to the door that they knew led into the deeper underworld. Sierra watched them approaching it, confused.

"Where are you going? There's just wall there." She noted. Paine crossed her arms.

"She's not baptized. Now what?" She asked, exasperated by the slow progress they were making. Yuna walked up to Sierra and grabbed her by the hand.

"Now she trusts us." The exsummoner answered, her comment sounding like a command. Sierra let herself be lead forward, until she realized that they were going to walk into the wall. Once she started to resist, Kairi stepped in and grabbed her other wrist, pulling as well.

"Sierra! Just trust us!" She pleaded, puffing as she pulled the dragoon ever so slowly towards the hidden door. Sierra still resisted.

"You're going to run me into a wall!" She insisted angrily. Sighing, Baralai stepped behind her and pushed hard. Sierra fell off balance and stumbled forward. She braced herself to hit the wall, but to her surprise, she just kept stumbling until she caught her balance. Straightening up, she turned around and saw the others coming through the door that she could now see. Paine glared at her. Yuna smiled exasperatedly.

"Next time, just trust us. We're not crazy, really." She said kindly. Sierra nodded, offering her a smile back. There was a crunch behind them, and the entire group spun. Three creatures veiled in shadow shoved everyone else aside and rushed Sierra, who was standing a distance away from everyone else. Before anyone could do much of anything, she cut them all down, kicking one into the other and slashing at the third. The first two tripped over each other and fell to the ground. In one swift move, Sierra threw one of her knives at them, driving it through both of them and into the ground. Dead, their shadowy bodies seemed to just fade away. Baralai watched, surprised, as Sierra wrenched her knife from the ground.

"What were those?" He asked. Sierra pulled her knife out of the ground and spoke.

"Darkstalkers. They're Drakonis' favourite monster minion. I don't know why he favours them, they're weak." She said, almost disgusted at having to speak of them. Saying nothing more, she started down the hallway, glancing about, looking for a sign of Larc or his master. Walking almost accidentally into a random room, they discovered one thing that they were very lucky to find. It looked like a ghost, but a ghost that had covered himself in a striped sheet. Its head looked almost like an ice cream cone. They stared at it, surprised to see such a spontaneously happy looking creature in the underworld. It bounced through the air toward them.

"Hello hellooooo! I am a Shadole! Help you need?" it asked, spinning around to amuse itself as it spoke. Yuna blinked.

"Umm, we need to get to the Pulpit of Eternal Flame as quickly as possible." she answered slowly. The Shadole winked and bounced around the room some more.

"No problem-O!" It announced, throwing its arms into the air, if you could even call them arms. They were just the corners of the so-called candy-stripe sheet. Sierra glared at it.

"Should we be trusting this thi-." She began to speak, but before she finished, the Shadole began to bounce again, and as it hit the ground, there was a loud pop, and Sierra disappeared completely. Even before anyone else could react from their surprise, the Shadole landed again, and this time Tidus was gone. Yuna let out a shout, slapping her hand over her mouth. Moments later, she disappeared with a pop as well, in time with the Shadole's bouncing. In the panicked confusion, the Shadole giggled, bouncing happily around the room and making them disappear, one by one. And again, one by one, they reappeared in a darkened Shrine of the Silent Faces. An arched doorway stood on the other side of the room, where voices could be heard. One by one, they regained their composure after the shock of the Shadole's spastic means of transportation, and one by one, they made their way to the doorway, peeking inside from the shadows of the Shrine. Larc was standing proudly in front of Drakonis, who held the mana stones in his hand. Laughing manically, he crushed the stones in his hand. The short, unimposing man began to glow, and suddenly became very much imposing. He had once been half the size of Larc's seven or so feet, but was now a little taller than even Larc, and very intimidating.

"Bow before your new master, my dragoon!" He commanded victoriously. Larc glared at him, unmoving. Drakonis' smile faded. "Bow, fool!" He shouted, attempting to kick Larc and trip him. Larc stepped out of the way.

"No. Drakonis, this has gone far enough. I will not allow you to return to the land of the living. This is my oath, on pain of death." He answered savagely. Drakonis narrowed his eyes.

"Then death you shall have." There was a short scuffle, hidden mostly by the flames and shadows. Sierra burst out of the Shrine, racing towards Drakonis and Larc, with the others on her heels. She skidded to a stop, prepared to aid her brother, only to see Larc slump to the ground at Drakonis' feet. Tears burned Sierra's eyes. Drakonis smirked.

"Ah, poor Sierra. You can't save the world of the living. You couldn't even save your own brother from my wrath. You're a failure, dragoon." He spat, watching Sierra smugly. He gasped and went stiff, in sudden pain. Kairi was standing behind him, her own tears of rage running down her cheeks, both her claws stabbed deep into Drakonis' back. She pulled them out, expecting to see him fall to her feet. He didn't. Instead, he hobbled away from her, glaring.

"You'll pay for that." He hissed. With that, he disappeared into the flames. Sierra was kneeling next to Larc. He propped himself up on his elbows, gasping in pain as he did so.

"Sierra, I'm sorry. I should have listened to you."

"No, you tried, that's what matters. I should have been here to help you, so I'm sorry." She answered, hiccupping. Larc smiled slightly and let out his final breath, his body fading into nothingness. Kairi blinked, and found herself, along with everyone else, next to the tombstone with the rain pouring down on them. Sierra was still kneeling on the ground, right next to the tombstone. There was silence, except for the thunderous sound of the rain hitting the soaking wet earth. Suddenly, Sierra began to shout, making everyone jump at the sudden sound, a string of nasty, colourful words flying from her lips, only to be drowned in the rain.

"I'm going to have Drakonis die at my feet, I'll teach him what the pain and humiliation he put Larc through feels like!" She vowed. With that, she punched the tombstone, expecting her fist to melt into it and draw her back into the Underworld so that she could hunt down her brother's killer. Only, her fist hit hard stone. She hit the tombstone again. After a long moment, she let out a scream of frustration. They couldn't get back in.

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I'm sorry, I know I promised that I'd make this chappie really long, but now I'm splitting it into two so I can fit another one in between. More chappies mean more ficcy mean better, right? Well, review please! Almost there! I'm so excited! PS: YAY! WE HIT 40 CHAPPIES! THAT'S EXCITING!


	41. Fluorite

Sierra had gone back to the White Forest, nursing her rage and planning her revenge. She had gone for the guidance of her master, Vandise. The others had gone back to the house to sleep. They needed it. The next day…well, they didn't know what they would do the next day. They supposed that now they would have to wait until Drakonis made his appearance in the land of the living, so they could turn around and send him crawling back into the underworld. Now, all they could do was wait, and maybe relax a little. The next morning came much too early and Kairi grumbled as she rolled over in bed, pulling the covers up over her head and complaining quietly that the sun was much too bright much too early in the morning. A sharp tug of the covers pulled them back down from over her head. Grumbling again, she pulled it back over her head. This time, someone pulled the covers off her head, and then off her completely. Surprised, she rolled over and glared at Sora. He grinned.

"If you're going to keep doing that, I'm just going to steal all the blankets for myself." He told her smugly. Kairi hugged herself, pouting.

"But Sooooorraaaaa, I'm cooooooold." She whined quietly, trying to hide a smile. Grinning, his arm emerged from the cocoon of blankets and grabbed her, pulling her into the knot of covers with him. She giggled.

"Do I want to know what you're doing in there?" A voice asked a moment later. Paine was standing at the door, hands on her hips, watching them with an odd look on her face. Sora poked his head out of the covers.

"We're not doing anything, thank you very much." He answered shortly. Kairi rolled out of the covers, off the bed and onto the floor. She grinned at Paine.

"You know, you always seem to walk in at really inopportune times." She noted, recalling the incident on the mountain where she and Sora were 'slobbering on each other'. Paine shrugged. Kairi grinned again. "Besides, I think you should be in visiting Baralai." She told her smugly. Paine turned a bit red, but smirked.

"And if I did that, you two would be left to your own devices and who knows what I would find you doing then." She answered. Kairi sighed and stood up, following her out and downstairs, not bothering to change out of her pajamas (a tank top and a pair of boxers that she stole from -ahem_-_ _somebody_). Downstairs, she saw that Yuna was up as well, and Tidus had been up, but since fell asleep on a chair by the fire. Lisa was sitting next to the fire, a large book open in front of her, pointing something out to Bud. Watching the pair, she realized how much they were an odd pair of kids. Lisa refused to be separated from an enormous rickety broom that she always carried around, and likewise, Bud had a very large pan that he claimed was a weapon that he wouldn't go anywhere without. A loud banging knock made everyone look towards the door. At first, they wondered whether it was actually someone at the door or not because it was so loud, and it was so early in the morning. Tidus woke up, jumping in surprise. When they heard it again, Yuna walked over to the door and opened it slowly, almost anxious at what she would find waiting on the doorstep. After a moment, she gasped.

"Pearl!" She put her hands on the young Jumi's heaving shoulders. Hearing quiet her quiet crying, Tidus, Sora and Kairi went to see what was going on. Yuna had since given Pearl a hug, whom collapsed into uncontrollable sobs.

"What's the matter?" Yuna and Kairi asked the same question at the same time, while helping Pearl into the house. They sat her down on a chair, and sniffling, she gave her answer.

"Elazul." She hiccupped, and then continued. "She got Elazul." Bewildered, the four others looked at each other. Lisa and Bud were standing not far away, and hearing her statement, Bud gasped.

"San…." However, he was cut off when Lisa slapped her hand over his mouth and grumbled at him to shut up. Pearl's tears came fast and furious again. Yuna bit her lip.

"Sandra took his core…" she let her voice trail off, afraid of upsetting Pearl further. Pearl nodded, hiccupping again.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Sora asked quietly. Pearl looked at him hopefully.

"If…if we can get the cores back from her, we can find Florina and she can heal him…" she said, sounding like she was more thinking out loud than speaking to any of them.

"How do we get the cores back?" Tidus asked after a moment. Pearl sighed.

"Umm, we'd have to find Florina first. She's supposed to know lots about Sandra. If anyone knows where the cores are hidden, it would be her…. but I don't know where to find Florina…" She paused, seeming to get lost in her thoughts again. Suddenly, she blinked and sat up. "The last thing Elazul said to me was find the Alexandrite. I don't know if this would help any, but there was a jewel shop in Geo that was owned by someone named Alex. It's closed now, but it might at least be a place to start looking."

An hour or so later, nine people were walking through the streets of Domina, empty but for a few vendors beginning to set up in the market. They walked towards the eastern end of town, and then north along a path through the fields and forests that edged the quiet town. Finally, they passed the old church. It was thought to be abandoned; it was in fine shape, but no one ever went there, except for the Reverend Nuvelle occasionally, to bless the altar and to 'keep the land holy, worthy of the goddess'. To their surprise though, there was a short man that reminded them of some sort of rodent, wearing a green trench coat, and he had a great big pipe sticking out of him mouth. He heard their footsteps and turned to look at them. His face went red for a moment and he jumped off the steps and stomped up to them. Stalking up to Kairi, he glared at her.

"Heading off to return to the scene of the crime are we? Thought you and your accomplices could sneak by me so you could go and find another Jumi to victimize? Huh? HUH?" He asked angrily, getting in Kairi's face. She took a step back, bewildered.

"S-scene of the crime? Victimize?" She stuttered, confused. The man eyed her, grumbling.

"That's right. I saw you in Gato. I know who you really are, _Sandra_!" He announced. There was a long silence where the man, who they had indeed met in Gato and knew him as Inspector Boyd, tried to stare Kairi down, while the rest of them stared back at him, confused and rather surprised at the accusation.

"Sandra was dressed up as a nun in Gato…" Kairi answered slowly. Inspector Boyd crossed his arms.

"Hmph. You'd like me to believe that. I saw you on the cliff after Mr. Reuben's death."

"Actually, Sandra was at the Nest when Kairi was up there. We saw her." Paine answered.

"Lies! All lies!" Boyd shouted. Now Pearl stepped forward. Boyd stared at her, shocked.

"Kairi saved me from Sandra once, in the Mekiv Caverns. She's not a Jewel Hunter. I know all these people are willing to fight Sandra with me to save my people. They were the first ones I came to when Elazul died." She answered, quietly but defiantly. Boyd blinked, then bowed quickly.

"My sincerest apologies miss. I thought I had Sandra when I saw you on the cliff where Mr. Reuben died not long after the murder."

"I know, it's alright. I was there when she murdered him. I tried to stop her, but she said she'd kill him if I came any closer. She killed him anyways." Kairi said, her voice trembling slightly. Inspector Boyd nodded.

"Again, I'm very sorry. If a Jumi can trust you, then so can I." He stated. Kairi smiled slightly, getting an idea.

"Do you know anything about someone named Alex? From Geo?" She asked after a moment. Inspector Boyd nodded.

"She's a mystery person of sorts. She's on my list of suspects as Sandra's possible alter-ego. They say she used to sell Jumi cores in her shop. Apparently, she caught wind of my finding out about her selling those, and she disappeared." He explained. The others stared at each other.

"Alex is Sandra!" Tidus asked, surprised.

"Even if she's not the Alexandrite, her shop might be worth a look." Baralai suggested. Pearl looked uncomfortable.

"What…what if she _is_ the Alexandrite? What if Sandra's a Jumi?" She asked after a moment. There was a long silence.

"She'd be killing her own people for profit…" Yuna said sadly. Inspector Boyd nearly exploded.

"THE FILTH!" He shouted angrily. Tipping his hat to them, though still in a huff, he told them he was going to take another look at the scene for Rueben's death, and that if they should find anything in Geo, to contact him immediately. Agreeing quickly, the rest started to run down the path. After a while, Gippal jogged up next to Paine.

"Uh, why are we running?" He asked between breaths.

"Because we need to get to Geo as fast as possible, and get in and out before anyone realizes who we are. If Sandra lived in Geo, she may still be there and Pearl may be in danger if she finds out that the last surviving Jumi is in the city." She explained, not sounding even remotely tired. They stopped to catch their breath at the bottom of the steps leading up into the city. Climbing carefully, and alert to anyone and anything suspicious, they started into the bustling streets. There were students everywhere, but that was to be expected as the city was home to the Academy. The students weren't too concerning; Sandra may be a master of disguise, but the students were all much too short for her to fit in with. They arrived at the door of the jewel shop. The outside was just as decorated and beautiful as always, except for the boards nailed haphazardly across the door. Impatient, Gippal kicked in the door, drawing a little bit of attention, but no one seemed too worried about it. Pearl frowned.

"Alex always had a surprising knowledge of the Jumi. I wouldn't be surprised if she was the Alexandrite." She said to no one in particular as they walked inside. The interior was much different from what it had been before Alex left. It was dingy, dark and empty. The display cases were still there, but they were open and empty. It looked like Alex had been in a big hurry to get out. A heavy silence weighed everyone down. A voice made them all jump.

"H-hello?" Spinning, they saw a young woman standing in the doorway, dressed in green and covered by a cloak. Pearl gasped.

"Esmeralda! You're alive!" The two girl hugged each other tightly.

"Of course I'm alive! It's you who I'm surprised to see alive!" She answered.

"But you were abducted by Sandra…" Pearl began. Grinning, Esmeralda interrupted her.

"But you and Elazul came to save me! I escaped while you and him were attacking her. I saw Elazul die, and you go running. I thought you died when Sandra caused the cavern to collapse! I thought you had been caught in it!" She exclaimed. Pearl shook her head vigorously.

"What are you doing here anyways?" Pearl asked. Esmeralda stuck out her tongue, smiling.

"I live in Geo!" She answered, half laughing. Pearl grinned too.

"No, I mean, what are you doing in the shop?" She asked. Esmeralda shrugged.

"I saw the door was broken and I figured I'd see what was up." She answered. Rikku now piped up.

"That was his fault!" She announced, pointing at Gippal, who rolled his eyes, stepping closer to her.

"If you're not careful, I'm going to have to shut you up." He muttered so only she could hear. She grinned in response.

"Ohhhh, I like the sound of that…" she answered, smiling mischievously. Gippal grinned in reply. Meanwhile, Pearl introduced Esmeralda as the Jumi of the Emerald. Yuna, Paine and Baralai were inspecting a large, jeweled box in the corner that hadn't yet been noticed. Slowly, everyone else began to notice and walked over to take a look.

"That looks pretty valuable. I wonder why Alex didn't take it with her?" Sora asked after a moment.

"Too heavy?" Tidus suggested.

"Maybe she's coming back for it." Kairi added. The lock on it caught Sora's eyes. He bent down to get a better look.

"I've never seen a lock like this one before…" He said slowly, sounding impressed. Paine crossed her arms.

"And I'm sure that should mean a lot to us since you must be a great authority on locks and keys." She said sarcastically. Wordlessly, Sora held up his Keyblade.

"It was my destiny to lock the planets to save them from the Heartless. I know a thing or two about locks." He answered. No one said anything more. Standing up, he pointed the Keyblade at it. He wasn't sure whether he would be able to unlock a lock like this one with his weapon. Relief flooded through him when it popped open. As he bent down to open in, he saw Kairi kneeling next to him out of the corner of his eye.

"Have more faith in yourself Sora." She whispered. Sora was slightly surprised. How did she know? She smiled even wider now. "Being part Heartless has its drawbacks…" he remembered the colour of her eyes and her stress and fear when she fell from the tree when they first landed on Fa'Diel, "but it has its advantages too." She finished, rather mysteriously. With that, she pushed open the box, and a blinding light issued from it. Esmeralda's scream drew all of their attention, but they could see nothing in the white light. Blinking as they regained their sight, they found themselves in a small but comfortable room. In the middle was a large bed and a young woman sitting on it. The woman looked surprised to see them.

"Dear me, I thought the only one who knew I was here was Alexandra." She said, her voice distant and musical. Sora smiled embarrassedly.

"Actually, we didn't know you were here. We just opened the box and ended up here." He answered. The woman smiled gratefully.

"Well, it's nice to have visitors. My name is Florina." She said gratefully. Pearl gasped.

"Florina! We found you! You have to help us! Me and Esmeralda are…the only…Jumi…left…" Her words became quieter and seemed to have less importance to her as she looked around. Suddenly looking back at Florina, she spoke desperately. "Where's Esmeralda?"

"It seems Alexandra paid a surprise visit back to her shop and took her. Now, Blackpearl, _you_ are the only one left." She said sadly. Everyone blinked at her. Scratching his head, Tidus spoke.

"So, Pearl's just a nickname or something? Short for Balckpearl, right?" He asked, sounding rather uncomfortable. Yuna shook her head.

"But Pearl's core isn't black, it's white…" She noted, looking to Florina for an explanation. Instead, it was Pearl who explained.

"I'm both Pearl and Blackpearl, that's why Elazul isn't my knight any more." She said. This just seemed to cause even more confusion. Rikku thought for a moment she meant the romantic 'knight in shining armor' type of thing, but then she was pretty sure that 'my knight' had meant something different. Pearl watched them, waiting for feedback, waiting to see if they understood. From the silence, Florina gathered that they didn't.

"The Jumi are organized into knights and guardians. Each knight is paired up with a guardian and they work together, the guardian healing and the knight protecting. Elazul was Pearl's knight, until they discovered Blackpearl. After that, he became Esmeralda's knight, as hers had been killed by Alexandra." She stated. Sora nodded.

"So, Sandra is Alex then." He said slowly.

"Alex, Sandra, Alexandra, Alexandrite. They are all one and the same person." Florina agreed. Gippal still looked confused.

"But I don't get this whole Pearl-Blackpearl thing. How can Pearl be two people? And how come this whole Blackpearl thing made Elazul become someone else's guardian?" He asked. Pearl sighed.

"I don't really know. I never remember what happens to me when I'm Blackpearl." She answered. Florina nodded.

"I supposed I should start from the beginning. Alexandra was once a great Jumi knight. I was the Great Guardian, the only one of the Jumi's able to shed tears. My tears, if they fall on the core of a dead Jumi, will cause that Jumi to be revived. The Lady Blackpearl was my knight. Every time I cried for a dead Jumi, a sliver of my own life would escape in my tears, which is how the dead Jumi's can be revived. The Jumi were fighting in a war against humans, so there were many deaths and I was crying often. Alexandra found out that I was giving my own life to save Jumi who were only going out to fight and die again, and she was furious. Almost single-handedly, with help from Lady Blackpearl, the war was ended. That night, at the celebrations, Alexandra demanded that every Jumi who had died in the war shed a tear for me so that I might return to my full health. Of course, no one else could cry. Not long after, she killed her own guardian and abducted Lady Blackpearl, erasing her memory and leaving her as Pearl the guardian so that she could be my knight. After that, she locked me in this box and refused to let anyone in to see me to heal fallen Jumi. When they kept demanding to see me, she was enraged at how people were expecting me to give my life to save those who had died carelessly. Deciding to exact revenge, she became Sandra the Jewel Hunter, and began to kill Jumi. I don't think she has any intention of killing Pearl. Neither Lady Blackpearl or Pearl ever lost her life and asked it of me to heal her, so I suppose she doesn't wish to exact revenge on her."

"But Elazul never died!" Pearl cried in response. Florina frowned.

"Then perhaps I don't know Alexandra as well as I thought…"

"No, you knew Alexandra well enough, but she is dead. Sandra is not the woman you knew." A childish voice told them. Looking for its source, they saw a person no bigger than a child, floating in mid-air and dressed up as an emotional clown. Usually, clowns are happy or sad or something of the like, but this face was so subtle and well done that it showed almost every emotion imaginable, except perhaps love. Belle, as the little creature was called, like to think it was because no one could dream love. After all, she was the keeper of dreams; it would only be appropriate. A new thought dawned on Paine, and she looked at Pearl.

"What were you and Elazul trying to do? You were trying your hardest to avoid Sandra, so you weren't trying to defeat her. What were you after?" She asked.

"There's something that can heal Jumi without Florina having to cry. It's called a Mana Stone." She answered. Gippal slapped his hand on his forehead.

"What in the hell is it with everyone and these damned stones?" He asked, frustrated. Pearl and Florina gave him a funny look. Gippal sighed. "We've caused the demise of the world and now we have to go kill a very powerful warlord in order to fix it, all because of those stones." He explained. Both women looked rather alarmed. Belle, however, seemed to know what they were talking about.

"Perhaps, but it shouldn't worry you so much. Drakonis is beginning to find that these stones are not the Mana Stones he thought they were. He thought that once he put them together, he would have the whole Mana Stone. They are nothing but small shards of the real thing, the one at the center of the Mana Tree. Don't fret over it, Drakonis won't be able to return to this world. There's not nearly enough power in those tiny shards, not to mention the fact that he would probably kill himself trying to force the real Mana Stone to do his bidding, even if he could get his hands on it." She explained lazily. A wave of relief flowed through them, but just as quickly came annoyance.

"Could you not have told us that _before_ we almost died worrying about what we'd done? And how do you know all this anyways?" Paine asked, rather angry. Belle shrugged.

"I wasn't aware that it caused you so much distress. No one had nightmares about it, so how was I to know? And I'm a lesser Wisdom, so I know much about what goes on in this world."

"Who are you anyways?" Rikku asked. Belle was about to speak, but Florina answered.

"This is Belle, keeper of dreams. She visits me often here." She paused, then spoke again. "There still may be time before Sandra kills the Jumi race off completely. Take this." She offered Kairi the Jumi Staff, one of the last Artifacts. The Jumi woman lifted her hand as if she was about to snap her fingers, but paused. "And no matter what you may find there, _don't cry_." And with a snap of her fingers, white light engulfed them once again and they found themselves standing in the abandoned jewel shop, confused. Sure, they'd gotten the answers to their questions, but nothing was ever simple, and they found that these cryptic answers that the so often found only seemed to lead them deeper into the maze of questions in which they now found themselves irreversibly lost.

…………..

Read and Review! Only a handful of chappies left (I've given up counting down because it keeps changing:P)


	42. Teardrop Crystal

I'm thinking that if I can count (which isn't guaranteed to be true) we've got 2 chappies left! Including this one! AND I JUST CAME UP WITH A KICK ASS TWIST FOR NEXT CHAPPIE! YES! Can't wait! Of course, once the fic is done, be sure to check back for my epilogue. Believe me it will be worth it! Bwahahahaha!

Guys! I'm kinda disappointed! I got only 2 reviews for last chappie! I think the lowest before this was like 5. The fic's nearing it's finish, I was expecting a little more than that/ I so definitely am going to keep writing because I don't write just to get reviews, but getting a few more reviews would be kind of encouraging! They do help inspire me o get the next chappie up faster! Hopefully I'll see more this chappie then, hm? You know, with it being the second to last chappie and all…

………………………………

Walking through the streets of Geo, Gippal scratched his head.

"I still don't get the whole Pearl-Blackpearl thing." He complained.

"I became Pearl when Alexandra erased my memory, but the impending conflict has unlocked my memories of Blackpearl and so I become Blackpearl in battle now." Pearl answered. Gippal nodded, understanding only a little bit better, but still better nonetheless. Reaching the huge Café Square, they found a disturbance. The Café Square was a huge patio with many little cafes lining the perimeter. In the middle, a group of students were yelling at each other.

"You knocked him over!"

"I did not! You did it!"

"No I didn't! You believe me, don't you Mr. Nunuzac?" One student asked, looking at the ground. An angry shout all send them scuttling away. On the ground, a large disk was lying flat. There was an explosion of energy and the disk was knocked onto its side.

"I don't care who knocked me over! None of you should be out here! Return to the school at once and report to me for detention after every class for the next week!" A voice bellowed. The students in the square, even those not involved in the argument, scattered. Rikku's eyes went wide.

"The circle can talk!" She said in awe. It turned to face her.

"Of course I can talk! I am the great mage Nunuzac! It would be ludicrous to expect any less!" It shouted at her indignately. Gippal crossed his arms.

"Great mage? You kinda look like stained glass." He answered. If it was ever possible for an expressionless circle to look angry, this one did now. Before he could explode, he noticed Pearl.

"You there. Jumi. I'm surprised you're not dead." It said snottily. Pearl, hands on her hips, glared at him.

"Well, I'm not, no thanks to you. If you'd looked better after Esmeralda, we wouldn't have had to go hunting for her."

"That lump of dirt? She's lucky I look after her at all. Mind you, you're no better. You and that boyfriend of yours, you're all worthless lumps of dirt." It said, disgusted. Pearl took a step towards him. She straightened up, and then even grew taller. As if a shadow was passing over her white dress, it became grey, and then black. Her long curly blonde hair grew longer, and her white pearl core turned cloudy, dark, and then became black. She was now holding a long staff in her hand, with a huge mother-of-pearl stone at the top that served as a hammer, which she was waving menacingly.

"_Never_ insult the Jumi in front of me." She ordered. "You don't look after her at all. Esmeralda's dead, her core stolen by Sandra. You're lucky I don't smash that disk and trap you in the otherworld for calling her a lump of dirt." (Nunuzac was a mage who was trapped in another dimension when he summoned a wyrm that was too powerful for him to handle, so all that's left of him on Fa'Diel is his magic circle). Nunuzac laughed her off, though his nerves, however well covered, could still be heard.

"You are all lumps of dirt. Those cores of yours used to hold value. Now they carry next to no mana. What value have they now?"

"We blocked the mana from flowing in them because you stupid human mages were killing us for them!" She answered.

"Well, if you'd done a better job of using the mana you had, we may have allied with you instead of attacking you. I take back what I said. You aren't just worthless lumps of dirt now, you always have been." He told her. Blackpearl growled at him.

"_Lumps_ of dirt? That's plural. There's only one of us left. Me. And that means I have no one of my own kind left to make me feel guilty about killing you." She answered coldly.

"Hm. Only one left eh? Well, that's interesting." With that uncaring tone, Nunuzac left the square heading back towards the Academy. Blackpearl slammed her hammer into the ground angrily. Her angry expression suddenly turned sad, and she morphed back into Pearl. Blinking, she looked around.

"What happened to that circle? What did I do?" She asked, seeing the look on the faces of the others. Paine smiled amusedly.

"You told him off and threatened to kill him a couple of times. Then he got scared of you and ran off back to the Academy." She answered, sounding impressed. Pearl shook her head.

"But I wouldn't kill anyone." She said slowly. Baralai shrugged.

"Maybe you wouldn't. But I don't doubt that Blackpearl would."

…………….

They reached the edge of the city and placed the Jumi Staff. Before them towered a huge tiered city, the stone that made up the walls a shining grey shade, hinting almost at purple or blue, and encrusted with jewels. _Which rather befits a city of Jumi._ Yuna decided, awed by the sight of it. The only thing was, the entire city was completely deserted, though they supposed that shouldn't come as a surprise; there was only one Jumi left, and she was standing at the gates with them. The gates were a marble of every different kind of precious stone imaginable, clear in places and opaque in others. Pushing the door open, they stepped inside and found their breath taken from them once again. There was a road that led all the way around the perimeter of the city, made of cobblestone, though the occasional cobblestone was some sort of jewel. The other side of the road was lined with empty houses and shops, though there didn't appear to be any way to go further into the city. Wandering down the road in awe, Yuna suddenly stopped walking, an important realization coming to her.

"Pearl! When you came to the house, you were crying! Florina said she was the only Jumi who could cry!" She said, spinning to face Pearl. She stopped, surprise overcoming the Jumi girl. She paused.

"I, I guess that means I'm next in line to be the Great Guardian. After a while, the Great Guardian is replaced, so that they won't give away too much of their life. The new one is picked when he or she cries for the first time. That's me then." She said with a quick smile. No one else was sure what to do. Was being the Great Guardian a good thing or a bad thing? Pearl's smile widened. "What an honour!" She cried, grinning. Her expression changed suddenly and she pointed something out a little ways away.

"That must be the gate into the next tier of the city!" She stated. They looked rather surprised.

"Haven't you been here before?" Tidus asked. Pearl shook her head.

"When I was living here, I was Blackpearl. I haven't been here since Alexandra erased my memory." She answered, walking up the gate. There were two pedestals sitting in front of it, and the doors were firmly shut. She inspected it for a moment, then nodded.

"I remember this, sort of. There should be jewels hidden somewhere in this tier that we can place on the pedestals that will make the door open." She said firmly. Rikku sighed.

"We have to search the _whole place_?" she whined. Kairi was smiling knowingly at Sora. He looked unsure, but remembering what she'd said to him earlier about having faith, he nodded. Aiming his Keyblade at the door, he was a bit surprised and very pleased as it flung open. Everyone else stared in surprise. Sora grinned.

"That makes things lots easier!" He stated. There were stairs leading up the to next tier of the city. Coming bounding down them were two Jewel Beasts, mummy-like creatures with innumerable gems folded into their wraps. Tidus sighed, lifting his Brotherhood into the air.

"Looks like Sandra left us a little gift. In congratulations for getting the gate open maybe?" He asked, striking at one of them. He hit what he thought was a bullseye, but his sword cut into the wrappings and slid off, hitting a gemstone. Kairi was having the same difficulties with her claws. Yuna's and Gippal's bullets were falling to the ground, useless. Paine and Sora were both helpless with their swords. Baralai's staff wasn't doing much better. Rikku transformed into the Blackmage dressphere.

"You think the mummies are flammable?" She asked, smiling slyly. Paine nodded, smiling herself.

"As I recall, perfumes are very explosive." She noted. "And I think it's habit to perfume mummies…" She continued, encouraging Rikku to try. With two fluid waves of her staff, both Jewel Beasts were burning rapidly. Within but moments, all that was left of them were two piles of ashes full of charred gems. Gippal grinned.

"That was brilliant….so you _do_ have a brain in that pretty head of yours then." He noted casually. Rikku opened her mouth to speak, but then shut it again, unsure of whether to get mad because he called her brainless or start gushing because he called her pretty. Gippal saw the look of confusion on her face and started to laugh. Making into the next tier of the city, they found another road running around the perimeter of the tier, almost exactly the same as the one before, with another set of gates, though this time with four pedestals for the jewels instead of one. Pearl shaded her eyes from the sun and looked up.

"The next tier is the last one, the Royal Quarter." She stated. Tidus scratched his head.

"Doesn't quarter mean there's supposed to be four?" He asked. Rikku shrugged at him. Pearl nodded.

"There used to be four. The fourth one was the Palace Quarter, but the walls that separated the Palace from the Royal Quarter are gone, so they were just incorporated into one." She answered, while Sora opened the gate. Rikku, Yuna and Paine were all standing at the ready in front of the gates. It swung open, and the three of them immediately filled the gateway and stairway with fire. Letting the flames settle, they found that there had been at least ten Jewel Beasts waiting for them, all of which were now just piles of ashes and gems. Kairi inspected the ashes.

"Looks like she really doesn't want us getting up here." She noted. Yuna nodded in agreement, though she looked rather confused.

"Looks like it, but why? I thought that she would try to lure us inside if anything. Wouldn't she be after Pearl?" She asked. Kairi scratched her head and nodded. Sora shrugged.

"Well, only one way to find out what she's up to." he stated, starting the climb up the stairs. He was followed, and they found themselves in the last quarter of the city. This time, the outside wall was the one lined with shops and houses, though these were all very high-end shops and large houses, reserved for the Jumi that were a part of the aristocracy, the Jumi's whose cores were of the highest value. In the center was what used to be a wide and very beautiful garden, full of life, though all that was left now was the statues, dry fountains and stone gardens. And in the center of that was the Palace. By no means large, it still inspired awe, with its detailed architecture and the way the marble shone in the sun. The huge gates leading inside were locked shut, but were no problem for Sora's Keyblade. Inside, they found a huge throne room, with none other than Sandra sitting on it. Pearl stalked up to her, changing into Blackpearl with every step. Sandra noticed her and smiled.

"Hello, Lady Blackpearl. I was expecting you." She tossed an emerald, Esmeralda's core, into the air and chuckled. A huge beast that looked like a big dragon's head floated down out of the vaulted ceiling. Blackpearl and the others stared at it. Alexandra began to laugh. "This is the Lord of Jewels. He eats Jumi cores. Once he's eaten a thousand, he will be able to restore Florina." She stated, tossing the Emerald to it. Its gaping mouth opened, and swallowed it whole. Blackpearl slammed her hammer into the ground.

"Florina doesn't want to be restored! She doesn't want to be locked in a box forever either! What she wants is to be able to restore the Jumi you killed before she has to step down from the position of Great Guardian!" She shouted. Alexandra stood up and stared down at Blackpearl.

"How do you know what she wants?" She asked, fuming. Blackpearl crossed her arms.

"I _asked_ her. Novel idea, no?" She asked, clearly mocking. Alexandra narrowed her eyes.

"What a person wants isn't always what's best for them! I'm doing what's best for Florina!" She answered defensively.

"By killing her and your own people? Do you actually think the end justifies the means when it involves wiping out an _entire race_?" Blackpearl asked, infuriated. Alexandra sat back down on the throne.

"I'm sick of arguing with you! Lord of Jewels! Dispose of them!" She ordered. With that, the monsterous head bore down on Blackpearl, who ducked out of the way, stumbling back towards the others. Yuna, Rikku and Paine were all still in their Black Mage spheres, and all began shooting random magics at the beast. Kairi shot her disk at it. It seemed to be flying right at it, with perfect aim, but she gaped as the creature opened its mouth and swallowed the disk whole. Everyone paused for a moment in surprise. There was a moment of almost complete silence, and then the Lord of Jewels began to roar in pain, thrashing about. Blackpearl, seizing the chance, drove her hammer down on its head. It dropped to the ground with a crash, supposedly dead. Horrified, Alexandra ran down from the throne and inspected the monster.

"It's alive." She murmured. Blackpearl rolled her eyes.

"It'll be dead in a few moments. It won't survive having Kairi's disk in its stomach." She stated uncaringly. Gippal nodded.

"Not to mention you probably did major damage to what little brains it had in the first place." He said, smirking. Alexandra stood up and glared at Blackpearl.

"You don't realize what you've done! I'm not going to let you ruin all my work!" She shouted. "All he needs is one more core…"

"I'll kill you before you get mine." Blackpearl said threateningly, brandishing her hammer. Alexandra almost laughed aloud.

"My Lady Blackpearl, if I have no other respect for you, I still respect your skills in battle. I won't fight you, I know I can't win. But there are three cores left." She answered. Blackpearl watched her warily.

"There's only mine. And Florina's, but it wouldn't serve a purpose to take hers." Blackpearl stated, wondering what Alexandra was talking about. The Alexandrite smiled mockingly.

"There's mine." She answered. With that, she pulled her own core out of her chest and threw it into the air, before dropping to the floor, dead. Blackpearl reached for it, but instead found her arm nearly bitten off by the Lord of Jewels as his huge mouth clamped around it. Suddenly and completely rejuvenated, the Lord of the Jewels 1000 rose into the air. It opened its mouth slightly, and a ball of energy began to form. The monster then spit it out and it grew rapidly as it fell towards them, almost to the point where it covered the entire floor. Paine and Blackpearl didn't make it out of the blast. Both of them were burnt and hurting, but all of them stood up, cringing with every step. Paine frowned.

"That's it. This thing is so dead." She growled before her legs gave out and she dropped to her knees. Baralai walked over and gave her a powerful potion.

"Wouldn't want you to miss all the fun." He stated. He watched her, and paused when she didn't do anything. "Hurry up, or you might." He added, fending off one of the Lord of Jewels' attacks. Sora and Tidus were both slashing helplessly in the air towards the Lord of Jewels, but neither could reach it. Getting and idea, Sora threw his Keyblade dead at what he supposed was the creature's stomach. It drove in, but the beast didn't seem to notice. He frowned. Tidus tried next, but only found that the Lord of Jewels swallowed his Brotherhood.

"Hey! I'm gonna kill you for that!" He shouted angrily, shaking his fists. Sora saw what had happened, which gave him an idea.

"Rikku! You got bombs?" He asked, sidestepping a flurry of stones being shot down at him. Rikku nodded.

"Whatcha got in mind?" She asked in reply. Sora grinned evilly.

"Throw them at him." He answered, finding haven from the attacks behind Kairi, Yuna and Gippal, none of whom were having much luck on the offensive and were resigned to defending themselves against the Lord of Jewels' attacks. Rikku frowned.

"But he'll only swallow them!" She answered. Suddenly her eyes lit up and she grinned. "Hey! That's a good idea!" She said, rummaging through her bag and pulling out a huge handful of bombs, which she stuffed in Sora's hands. A moment later, she pulled out another handful and ran over to Tidus, giving them to him. After that, she pulled out two more, but those were coloured differently than the others. Sora shot her a questioning look.

"L-bombs." She answered simply. L-bombs were a nasty variety of bombs with more power that the usual kind. Tidus stared confusedly at the bombs in his hands, and then looked at Rikku, making a face as he dodged an attack and then ducked in behind Yuna, Kairi and Gippal, where Sora was.

"What do I do with these?" He asked. Sora grinned.

"Throw them."

"But he'll swallow them!"

"That's the point." Sora answered, throwing one handful. The Lord of Jewels opened his mouth and swallowed all five of them whole. Rikku threw one of hers, and again the monster swallowed it. Tidus seemed to be getting the idea and threw both of his handfuls, followed closely by Sora's, all of which were swallowed in one mouthful. Rikku threw the last of hers, and then grabbed Gippal and began to run, pulling him with her. He shouted some incomprehensible complaint and Rikku shouted "BOMBS!" With that, everyone scattered, looking for shelter from the impending blast. There was silence for a moment. No one moved, and the Lord of Jewels stopped, rather confused by everyone's sudden retreat. An explosion from with him sent him reeling, followed closely by another, then two more in succession, then a big explosion (Rikku's L-bomb) and a smaller one together. After that, they were exploding two and three at a time, until Rikku's other L-bomb exploded, taking a number of the smaller bombs with it and completely blowing up the Lord of Jewels. It rained Jumi cores. Tidus' sword landed point first in the floor, wedging itself between two stones, and Kairi's disk embedded itself in the wood of the throne. As the two of them retrieved their weapons, everyone else gathered around Yuna, who was staring down at the cores of Lapis Lazuli, Emerald, and Ruby. She bit her lip. Tidus touched her shoulder.

"I know, but don't cry." He whispered urgently. Yuna nodded.

"I'm trying." She said, her voice tight and thick with the oncoming tears. She began to blink rapidly, trying desperately to hold back her tears. Everyone caught their breath as a single droplet fell and landed silently on the floor. All eyes were on Yuna as they wondered what would happen. She didn't look well. Her skin was almost grey. Her eyes had gone dull, and her hair looked like it was going grey. All these things gradually became worse, and they watched in confusion until Rikku finally realized what was going on.

"YUNIE!" She shouted, grabbing a bottle and dumping it haphazardly over her cousin's head in her distress. Tidus caught sight of the bottle label and gasped.

"She's petrified?" He asked, horrified. Rikku stared in anticipation at her now-stone cousin. She bit her lip.

"Why isn't she getting better? THAT POTION IS SUPPOSED TO MAKE YUNIE BETTER!" She cried in alarm. Pearl, who had transformed back, frowned.

"She cried for a Jumi…I don't know what can fix her now." She said slowly. No one had seemed to notice, but the teardrop on the floor was glittering like a crystal. It caught Pearl's eye and she picked it up, gasping.

"The Teardrop Crystal…" She murmured. Holding it up, it seemed to take the light shining on it and cast it on each of the Jumi cores scattered on the floor. As if each were seeds, a human figure grew out of them. They all stared in awe as each core produced its Jumi, completely revived just as they had been before they were killed. The newly born Jumi looked around, confused.

"What's going on?" On woman dressed in white asked. Pearl cleared her throat.

"This woman cried for you, and her tears revived each of you. She gave her life to save our people. Please be thankful." With these words, Pearl's own eyes filled with tears. She rubbed them and looked sympathetically at Tidus. "I'm sorry." She murmured, touching Yuna's shoulder. Tidus nodded sadly. Rikku threw her arms around the now statue of her cousin, then pulled back.

"Yeck, why is her shoulder wet?" She asked. Pearl looked at her hands, which were soaked in her own tears.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" She answered, sounding rather disappointed in herself, almost as if she felt she had degraded Yuna somehow.

"Sorry? But you saved me." A quiet voice said. Blinking in surprised, Pearl spun around and came face to face with a very alive Yuna. She gaped and Yuna grinned. "You heal the Jumi by crying on their stone cores, why is it so inconceivable that you did the same thing for me?" She asked, sounding slightly perplexed.

"B-but you don't have a core." Pearl answered, saying the only thing she could think to say. Yuna made a face.

"I don't think I needed a stone core, because my whole body had turned to stone…right?" She asked, watching Pearl and waiting for the young Jumi to confirm her idea. Pearl shrugged in reply.

"I've never heard someone other than a Jumi being revived by Jumi tears." She answered. Before Yuna could answer, Rikku threw her arms around her cousin and knocked them both to the floor.

"YUNIE'S OKAY! YAY!"

"Rikku! Don't shout in my ear please!" Yuna answered, struggling to stand up with Rikku still holding on to her. Tidus gave her a hand up, pulled her into his arms and kissed her, all the while with Rikku still shouting random things in her happiness. Pearl giggled and smiled.

"I don't know how to thank you. If there's anything you ever need, don't hesitate to ask us." She said, shaking each of their hands.

"Do you know anything about the mana tree?" Baralai asked. To their surprise and delight, Pearl nodded.

"I don't know much, but I know about a sword called the Mana Sword, and it's the key to getting into the Mana Sanctuary. For a while we thought Elazul's sword might be it, but it's not. If there's anyone to ask about the Mana Tree, it would be a Sproutling. They live all over the place, you could go just about anywhere to find one. They say that they're connected to the Goddess herself, so they'd know all about it." She answered. "I hope that helps."

"Thank you so much! That helps a lot!" Kairi answered, grinning.

…………

Not too long later, the group was walking back to the house, quite exhausted from the two fights and looking to get Paine some rest and decent care for her burns. Ad they walked past the entrance to the underworld, Sora froze.

"What happened to the tombstone?" He asked, running over. In the long grasses, it looked like it had completely disappeared. Upon closer inspection however, they found it was now lying flat, and imbedded in the ground. Or, that's what it was supposed to look like. Now it was split cleanly in two and opened into a staircase leading down underground. It was a door, and a door that led into the Underworld.

"Does that mean Drakonis made it back into the world of the living?" Gippal asked, pointing his gun down the hole. Rikku started down the stairs.

"Let's go see." She answered simply. The others followed silently, though reluctant to re-enter the Underworld. At the bottom of the stairs, they found a door, which they opened. On the otherside, Sierra was standing with her hands on her hips, shouting at someone.

"Stop being so stubborn! There's a door, you just can't see it because you're not alive!"

"No there isn't! The only door cursed like that is the one that leads into the depths of the Underworld, and it can only be seen by the dead! If there was a way out of this hell I'd have found it by now!" The other person answered, though their identity was concealed by Sierra's figure.

"It wasn't here before now!" She answered, exasperated. Stepping into the room, Yuna cleared her throat. Sierra turned around and looked relieved.

"Please tell him there's a door!" She ordered. Larc walked up to them, confused.

"Where did you come from?" He asked slowly. Rikku blinked at him, surprised.

"Aren't you dead? Didn't Drakonis kill you?"

"I was dead anyways when he killed me. It wasn't a big deal, all it meant was I had to be Baptized again." He answered. "Tell me about this door."

"It's right there." Tidus told him pointing. Larc blinked.

"You're all crazy. There's no door there." He told them, shaking his head. Kairi rolled her eyes.

"That's what Sierra said when we dragged her through the door to the depths of the Underworld." She answered. Then she blinked. "Wait, how come if all you wanted was to stay in the land of the living you didn't just stay up there when Drakonis sent you?"

"Because I was connected to him with a bond broken only by death. I had to return, I had no choice in the matter." He answered. "But, he killed me, so I'm not his dragoon anymore. If I could get back into the land of the living, I would be able to rejoin Sierra as a dragoon of the White Dragon." He stated. At that, Tidus and Sora both grabbed him by the arms and started to drag him towards the wall.

"Come on! You'll thank us when this is all over!" Sora said, puffing with exertion as he pulled the struggling Larc. Sierra began to push him from behind. Kairi was walking ahead of them, and she stepped through the doorway. Larc blinked, seeing her disappear into the wall, and shook Sora and Tidus off.

"Here goes nothing…" he grumbled, bracing himself and running at the wall. He didn't hit it as he was expecting to, and began stumbling up a set of stairs while Kairi watched him amusedly. Everyone else followed, Tidus and Sora breathing heavily.

"Why didn't you just do that before?" Sora grumbled at him. For the first time, Larc actually looked rather sheepish.

"Well then I'm sorry." He answered gruffly, heading up the stairs. Taking his first step on the ground, he let out a whoop. "I'M ALIVE!" He shouted. Sierra grinned at him.

"Come on, I'll take you to see Vandise." She said, once everyone else was out of the door. They pushed it shut. She started to walk away, but stopped and looked apprehensively back at the doors. "What if Drakonis finds the door?" She asked. Kairi looked at Sora.

"Then we make sure he won't be able to get out of it. Can you lock it?" She asked. Sora shrugged.

"I dunno, never tried anything like this before. I'll give it a try though." He said, pointing his Keyblade at it and visualizing a lock on the door. In his concentration, he stuck his tongue out and Kairi bit her lip to keep from laughing at the look on his face. A ray shot from the end of his Keyblade and a lock appeared on the door.

"Well, we don't have to worry about Drakonis anymore." Sierra said, relieved and leading Larc towards the White Forest.

……………………….

Approaching the house, they saw a strange sight. The Sproutling that usually loitered around the front of the house was lying still on the ground, with two Sproutlings they'd never seen before leaning over her. Sora was the first to reach them.

"What's the matter?" He asked. One of the Sproutlings looked up at him, clearly distressed.

"We don't know! She just fell down, without warning! A Sproutling has never died before!" She cried. Sora sighed and looked over the supposedly dead Sproutling.

"She looks like she's sleeping." He answered encouragingly.

"But we tried everything to wake her! She's trapped in her sleep!" The other one told him. A bang sounded from around the back of the house.

"You two stay here and watch over her, while we go to find out what that was." He ordered, standing up and joining the others as they ran around back towards the source of the sound.


	43. Legend of Mana: The Last Song

GAHHHH LAST CHAPPIE!

…………………………

Riku, and this mysterious girl he'd just met, were sitting in front of the crystal, watching Sora, Kairi and the others as they confronted Sandra. Emma, as the girl's name was, leaned closer to the crystal, watching intently.

"Wow. How brave." She noted. Riku nodded.

"I've never met anyone else like those two." He answered. Emma sighed.

"I wish I could be like that." She told him, her voice rather sing-songy. She stared off into the blackness, getting lost in thought. It was a long while before she realized that she was staring at something. She tilted her head to the side, perplexed. "Was that door there before?" She asked, pointing. Riku looked up, and stared at it.

"No…" he said slowly, standing up and walking over. Emma followed, curious. Once she got a closer look at it, she laughed.

"But it doesn't lead anywhere!"

"Sure it does. Look." Riku said, pulling the door open. On the other side was a place that looked much like the Mekiv Caverns, but grey-er and much more shadowy. Emma poked her head through the door and looked around.

"Wow, I've never seen a place like this before…" She said. Then, she gasped as some invisible but irresitable force took hold of her and all but threw her through the door. Riku tried to reach for her, but his hand collided with what felt like glass. Every door was covered in it, some substance that only he was unable to pass through, which was why he couldn't leave. He watched as she straightened up and looked around, confused. Spotting an archway, she started towards it, disappearing into the shadows. Riku slammed the door shut and ran back to the crystal.

"Show me Emma."

……………………..

Emma brushed herself off and looked around. _This place definitely isn't as cool looking as it was before._ She thought apprehensively, wondering what she'd gotten herself into. _First things first. I have to find a way out of this cave._ The thought calmed her a little and her mind straightened itself out. Catching sight of a doorway, she jogged towards it, wandering through it. The caverns were straightforward, usually only one other door for Emma to leave by, taking generally a straight line. She soon found herself in a cavern much bigger than the ones before it, but to her dismay, found it to be a dead end. _Now what? It looks like there's no way out!_ She thought, panic starting to take hold. Then she spotted a little creature unlike anything she'd ever seen before huddling on the floor across the cavern. She walked slowly towards it, and heard it was crying.

"Are you alright?" She asked. Then the thought occurred to her that it didn't speak English, if it spoke at all. The little creature, who looked like a child with leaves, wiped her eyes and looked up at Emma.

"Are you here to save me?" She asked quietly. Emma blinked, unsure of what to say. "I need to heal the Mana Tree! That's what we Sproutlings were born for." Emma blinked again. _Mana Tree? Sproutlings? This kid is delirious! _She decided. Then, some thought hit her. One of Riku's friends had mention a Mana Tree. She gasped. _Oh my god! I've been thrown head first into a full blown, fantasy adventure! _She wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. This was something that didn't happen to just anyone, and hadn't she just been saying that she wished she could go on adventures? But still, could she handle an adventure like this? The Sproutling smiled up at her.

"You'll need this." It told her. Dumbfounded, Emma took the sword from the Sproutling's hand. It was by far the most beautiful sword she'd ever seen, even if she hadn't seen very many swords.

"Wow…" she breathed, turning it over in her hands. The Sproutling smiled, her eyes dancing.

"Thank you for saving me!" Emma stared at it. She definitely hadn't done anything to save the Sproutling. Then, a blinding flash illuminated the room, and Emma found herself in a very different place, still holding the sword, seeing the last people she ever dreamed she would see.

……………………..

Behind the house, there was a mound of earth, with a door and a number of smokestacks. Two voices could be heard inside, though they were too muffled to be understood. Carefully, Tidus opened the door, and they all leaned in close to get a look. The inside was a small cave, with a number of doors leading into different workshops (a blacksmith's workshop for example). In the center of the room were Nunuzac and Belle. Belle looked furious.

"Do you have any idea how many laws you are breaking?" She shouted angrily. Nunuzac sighed.

"I know, but it's for the best. You know the kind of warring the Mana Tree causes." He answered. Belle crossed her arms.

"The Mana Tree is the source of life in the planet! You of all people should appreciate that! You're the one who uses the mana the goddess supplies!"

"And therefore I know better than anyone what it has cost this world."

"You can't avoid the inevitable!" Belle cried, frustrated.

"The return of the Mana Goddess is not inevitable." Nunuzac answered calmly.

"Then why did you imprison the Sproutling? In a nightmare no less! She was of no threat!"

"Not herself, but she was to play a pivotal part in leading a group of adventurers to the Mana Sword. Those children are much to rash and naïve to understand the power they are dealing with!"

"You're only saying that because Gippal insulted you!" Rikku cried, bursting through the door. Nunuzac stared at them in surprise. Belle seized the opportunity and threw a wave of energy at Nunuzac. It didn't seem to do him much harm, he teetered for a moment and straightened up.

"If you do that again, don't think I won't imprison you in that nightmare with the Sproutling." He threatened. Belle glared at him.

"You can't imprison me in a nightmare! I'm the Dreamweaver!" She answered, indignate. Then, she blinked. "There's been a change in the dream's makeup. It's no longer the Sproutling's dream. It's someone else's, and they're about to wake up…" She paused, looking around, then gasped. "INCOMING!" She dove out of the way, pushing Nunuzac to the ground, and just on time. There was another explosion, picking up unbelievable amounts of dust. Once the dust settled, they saw a girl standing there, coughing. She looked about Rikku's age, and had long brown hair. She was standing in her pajamas, and carrying a magnificent looking sword. Both Belle and Nunuzac gasped when they saw it.

"The Mana Sword!" They cried at the same time. The girl blinked.

"I'm not surprised it's called a Mana Sword. Some kid dressed up as a bush kept going on about some Mana Tree." She said sleepily. Kairi gasped.

"The Sproutling! Is she alright?" She asked urgently. The girl thought a moment.

"I don't…remember…" She answered. "That's funny… I can't remember much of anything about my dream, except some kid dressed like a bush and something called a Mana Tree…" She noted. Rikku looked curiously at her.

"Who are you anyways?" She asked, trying to recognize her. The girl smiled.

"My name's Emma."

………………………

The Sproutling, still thanking Emma profusely, was leading the group slowly but surely towards the place she said the Mana Tree belonged. At the center of the world, she said, where it's power could return the rest of the world to it's former glory.

"After the Last War, the Mana Tree's heart was eaten away at, because the mass death of the war affected the flow of mana in the world, and began to twist the Goddess, who is the spirit of the tree. It came to be that the Goddess became so twisted that the Moon Gods locked the pieces world away, partly because the mana was weakening and couldn't hold it together much longer anyways, and partly because if they didn't stop the flow of mana from the Tree, the entire world would become twisted and dead. We need you to return the Goddess to her former self, so Fa'Diel can return to normal." The Sproutling said, finishing her explanation of the Mana Tree. Sora nodded.

"I can see why the King was worried. If the wrong person got hold of the Mana Sword and released the Goddess without healing her… it would be like Maleficent and Kingdom Hearts all over again." He said, cringing at the thought.

"Poor Riku." Kairi sighed sadly. Emma paused, watching Kairi curiously. _Riku…where have I heard that name before…?_ She wondered, biting her lip. The Sproutling stopped walking suddenly.

"Here!" She said, pointing to the expanse of dark, dead land before them. Emma shivered at the sight, not having seen anything like it before. The Sproutling was watching her expectantly. "Well?" Emma stared at her.

"Well what?" She asked, confused. The Sproutling put her hands on her hips.

"Do it!" She ordered. Emma blinked.

"Do what?" She asked, bewildered. The Sproutling sighed.

"Duh! Release the Tree!"

"Ummm….how?" She asked, inspecting her sword. There was a long silence. None of them really knew how. This artifact wasn't like any of the others. All the others had been small, really only charms. This was a full-sized, rather dangerous weapon. Emma bit her lip and poked the ground with the tip. She lifted the sword to poke the ground again, hoping something would happen, but stopped when she saw a bright green seed sitting in the hole made by the sword's tip. She bent down to take a closer look, but stumbled back when a vine-like plant exploded from it. In seconds it was the biggest tree any of them had ever seen. The ground fell away from it, leaving it floating in a mist.

"….Now what?" Rikku asked, looking up and shading her eyes. Paine shrugged.

"Climb it?" She suggested. It was as good an idea as any. Rikku started down the slope towards the bottom of the roots, disappearing into the mist. One by one, they followed. They reached the bottom and found some of the roots touching the ground, gnarled and twisted together. Rikku climbed on top of one of them and started to walk along it. They were wide enough to accommodate three people walking side by side. It was like a maze, making their way up through the knotted roots. It was Kairi who found the top of the roots. She climbed up onto one of the lowest branches. It was covered in moss, some of which hung freely from the branch she stood on to the next branch, like a bridge, which she crossed, taking careful steps and not quite trusting the moss to hold her weight. One by one, they crossed, just as slowly and cautiously as Kairi had. Yuna reached the other side and leaned against the trunk. To her surprise, the bark crumbled away and she fell backwards into the center of the tree with a scream. She landed on something very soft and almost spongy. Rolling over, she found herself lying on a very large bit of violet fungus. There were other fungi all around the hollow inside of the tree, creating almost a ramp upward. Kairi poked her head in the hole in the bark.

"You okay Yuna?"

"Fine. Check this out though!" She answered, beckoning Kairi inside. She did as she was told and walked in, letting a quite gasp escape her lips when she saw the mushrooms. She shot Yuna a quizzical look, then grinned.

"It's really pretty!" She announced.

"What is?" Rikku asked, poking her head inside. "Woah! Cool! A short cut you think?" She asked, stepping inside. Yuna shrugged.

"Probably." At this, Rikku leaned back outside and yelled.

"Hey! Everybody come here! Yunie found a shortcut!" She announced. Everyone else started piling in, and they started the climb up. Not long in, they found themselves standing at a long gap, too long to jump. Gippal crossed his arms.

"Now what?" He asked. Paine kicked the wall, which crumbled. Not far below them was another branch, which entangled with the ones above it and appeared to be able to get them to the next part of the ramp. Jumping down, Paine walked briskly along the branch until she reached a mat of leaves, which she used as a springboard to jump across to the next branch. From there, she could step across to the next branch, walked back down towards the trunk and kicked the bark in. Stepping back inside onto the next fungi, she smirked.

"Voila." Everyone else followed her lead, jumping from the first branch to the second, and then to the third and back into the hollow trunk. This time though, the climb wasn't nearly as easy. There were ten times as many gaps for them to jump, and they began to feel like the fungi was about to fall out from under them. So naturally, they were glad when they reached the end of the ramp. Emma cut through the bark with the sword and stepped outside. She froze and gasped.

"Uh guys? Look at this…" She murmured, beckoning for them to come out. They were standing in a stone sanctuary, overgrown with plants.

"Are we still in the tree?" Sora asked. A place like this couldn't possibly exist within the branches of a tree…could it? In any case, there was a pathway leading from the overgrown courtyard and through a series of arched, which Tidus started towards. They followed, and found themselves standing in a flat expanse similar to the last sanctuary, but much, much bigger. This one wasn't overgrown, but surrounded by trees whose canopies created a huge arched roof. Only in the center was a space not covered by the branches of the trees. The sky above was clear and dark, illuminated by the moon directly above them. When had night come? It had only been mid-afternoon when they'd gotten there, and according to the sky they saw above them, it had to be at least midnight. Across the Sanctuary from them was a flower. It was enormous for a flower, at least four feet tall, though it had yet to bloom. It looked something like a rose, with thorns surrounding the bud. Yuna began to approach it. To her surprise, a vie shot out from the flower and caught her arm. She yelped and shook it off, though her arm was now covered in cuts from the thorns. They heard a cackling, and the flower began to bloom. As it flowered, it grew to enormous size, and out of it stepped a woman, ten feet tall with dead eyes. On her chest, in the same place that the Jumi had their cores, she had a Heartless insignia imbedded in her skin. Kairi saw it and cried out in pain, collapsing and grabbing at her ankle. Sora spun to face her, surprised and worried, and wondering what he could do to help, but when he saw what it was, he froze, unsure of what to do. Then he smacked himself in the head. _Of course she'd react like this in the presence of a Heartless Goddess! Stupid me! I should have done something before!_ Before he could continue silently scolding himself, a terrified scream drew his attention. The Goddess had grabbed hold of Emma with a thorny vine, lifted her of the ground and was wrestling the Mana Sword from her grip. Paine was there in a flash, cutting the vine clean off. Emma fell to the ground with a thump and groaned, her whole body covered in cuts. The Sword skittered across the Sanctuary and she scrambled towards it. A new vine tip grew out of what was left of the old vine. Paine, unprepared for this to happen, was knocked off her feet and thrown into a tree. Yuna started shooting, though her bullets didn't seem to have any affect on the Goddess. Tidus cut off the end of the vine again, but before they could grow back, he cut more of the vine off, and then more and more until her reached the base of the vine and was close enough to the Goddess to attack her. He buried his sword into her stomach, then pulled it out and stepped back, prepared for a last attack from her before she died. Instead, she started to laugh, a cold, cruel laugh.

"Moron. I'm a Goddess, immortal. You and your petty friends can't kill me." She stated. Tidus' eye went wide and before he could react, he found himself flying through the air, hitting a tree with a sickening crunch and landing on the ground next to Paine. Yuna hurried over, transforming into White Mage and got to work on healing them both. Everyone else stopped attacking, only defending against the occasional attack from the Goddess.

"Now what?" Rikku asked, knocking away a vine. The ground started to rumble and a number of spikes started shooting up from beneath the ground. Gippal was hit by the attacks, and Rikku, trying to get to him to pull him to safety, was hit as well, though not fatally injured. Gippal's injury though, wasn't looking as good. A vine whipped out and caught both of Yuna's hands, forcing her to the ground, helpless. The second vine hit her across the head and she was out cold. Kairi was horrified. There was only her, Sora and Baralai left standing. As she watched, her friends were being killed! _This was not the way this was supposed to end!_ She thought furiously. Then, a new thought came to her. _My voice! The King said my voice was the key! _As if reading her mind, Sora fought his way over to her.

"Kairi! Sing something!" He shouted. Paine, who was still barely conscious, agreed.

"Sing Kairi! We can't harm her physically, but you can force emotion on her!" She shouted, her voice hoarse. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Baralai drop to the ground. Kairi swallowed her fear, and began to rack her brain. _Sing something painful. It'll force pain on her. Think Kairi think! A painful memory! _Stepping as far back out of the way as she could, her thoughts settled on one memory. And, she began to sing of the emotions she felt from it.

_I still remember the world  
From the eyes of a child  
Slowly those feelings  
Were clouded by what I know now_

_Where has my heart gone  
An uneven trade for the real world  
oh I...  
I want to go back to  
Believing in everything and knowing nothing at all  
_

The Goddess began to scream, sending the vines whipping out at her. Helpless to defend herself, Kairi braced for the attack, but it never came. Sora was cutting down one of them, but the other hit him in the back, causing him to collapse. Tears started to sting her eyes, pouring more emotion into the song than she ever had before. So much in fact, that she almost felt her emotion slipping away from her. A numbness came over her, but still she poured her pain into the song.

_I still remember the sun  
Always warm on my back  
Somehow it seems colder now  
_

_Where has my heart gone  
Trapped in the eyes of a stranger  
oh I...  
I want to go back to  
Believing in everything_

_Where has my heart gone  
An uneven trade for the real world  
oh I...  
I want to go back to  
Believing in everything and knowing nothing at all_

Kairi felt herself collapsing, but she could see the Heartless hold on the Goddess weakening. She was forcing the Goddess to feel emotion again, forcing her to fight the Heartless that had taken hold.

_Where has my heart gone  
Trapped in the eyes of a stranger  
oh I...  
I want to go back to  
Believing in everything_

_I still remember………_

There was a final scream of the Goddess, and Kairi collapsed. The Goddess had split into two. One, the true Goddess, was lying on the ground, weakened greatly from the separation. The other was a gruesome looking Heartless. It crawled over to where Kairi lay, knowing she hadn't yet fallen into death. Even if the girl had won, the Heartless would mock her, and it would get its final sadistic pleasure from doing so before the Goddess awoke and destroyed it completely. It spoke a few words to the girl, watching, pleased, as the tears began to roll down her cheeks. Then, she lay still.

"Filth!" An angry voice cried. "How dare you!" The Goddess shouted at the Heartless. "You sick monster! You've killed her and you can't even give her a peace of a quiet death?" Enraged, the Goddess reached out towards the Heartless, locking it in her magical grip. Within seconds, the creature screamed, writhed for a moment, and was gone. The Goddess looked around at the nine dead around her. She walked gracefully over to Kairi, smiling sadly.

"I wish you peace." She whispered, kissing her forehead. Then, she walked over to Emma and gently took the Sword from her hand.

"You protected the Sword with your life, you will be a hero long remembered here."

………………………

Darkness enveloped Kairi. She didn't know where she was, and she could feel her memories slipping out of her grasp. It was terrifying.

"How cute." A mocking voice said from the darkness. "You gave and your friends sacrificed yourselves to save the world. A little too cliché, don't you agree?" It spoke in a bored tone. Kairi could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. It cackled wickedly, seeing her pain. "After all, what have you got to lose?" There was a moment's silence before Kairi could reply.

"Everything…" she replied, thinking of her life so far. She had so many friends, so much to look forward to still. She had the most fiercely loyal friends she'd ever imagined, almost like the family she never had. And then, of course, she had Sora. The thought of losing him was horrible. She was completely numb, leaving her unaware of the tears rolling freely down her cheeks. She no longer tried to hide her emotions, and her voice wavered with the hopelessness she felt. "I have everything to lose…"

……………………..

That's it guys! It's finished! Omg, what a ride!

Thanks to:  
-Emma, who was with me all the way. Much luv Ems!  
-Mooglegirl, whose reviews were always amusing (I know you made scary threats about what you'd do if I killed Tidus! Gah! Me sry! But I killed all of 'em! Don't hurt me:P )  
-Antimusicman, who reviewed just about every chapter and always let me know what you thought  
-CuteKitty, who always encouraged me to keep writing, no matter what  
-Mandy, whose comments would ALWAYS make me smile

You guys were the ones who were always there, always reviewing, the ones who really inspired me to keep going. I LOVE YOU GUYS!

BIG BIG BIG BIG **BIG **PS: There's still gonna be an epilogue! We're not quite finished yet! I know, you're wondering how I can possibly write a sequel when I just killed all the main characters…. Hehehehe…. well, that's what I'm writing the epilogue for. You'll see!


	44. Epilogue: A New Adventure is Born

I suppose this isn't as much an epilogue as it is a preview of the sequel. Bwahahahahahahaahahahaha! Anyways, I know you're all wondering how I could possibly ever write a sequel with all my characters dead, but you'll see what happens now…..

Deep in the darkness, there was silence. Then again, there was always silence there, but this was different. Riku watched, helpless as one by one his friends, his hope, died. His silence was one of grief. He had been watching the events through Emma's eyes. When she was killed, he began to watch through Sora, and then Kairi. Then, there was no one else to watch, and he sat on the cold ground, staring into the blank crystal, feeling more lost and alone than he ever had. Suddenly, he punched the crystal.

"Dead! They saved countless worlds, all of them, and all fate has had in store for them all this time was death!" He shouted, angry. "While I'm forced to sit in here and live. Without any hope left for me. Damn it, I could have died instead. I could have gone easily from one darkness into another. But of course not. Fate took the lives of those who still had life to live." He muttered, trying to hold back his tears. He knew there was no one there to see him if he cried, but he still had that internal feeling that he was too old to cry now.

He still sat in front of the blank crystal, wondering what he should do next. He tried (though he knew it was futile) to command to crystal to show him Yuna, Tidus, Rikku, Gippal, Paine, Baralai and finally, Emma again. Sighing, he stood up, about to leave and loose himself in the endless darkness, wandering aimlessly for the rest of his days. It wasn't like he had anything else to do anymore. Then, a flickering image in the crystal caught his eye. He turned back around slowly, rather surprised. He hadn't asked the crystal to show him anyone else… At first, all he could see in the crystal was white. He began to wonder if he was seeing heaven. Then, with a flurry of movement inside the crystal, he realized he was seeing another world through the eyes of someone. But who? Everyone he'd ever watched was dead, and he hadn't yet told the crystal to show him anything else. A pair of hands lifted into his view and rubbed the eyes he was looking through. Who ever he was watching through was sitting in a bedroom, not so different from his own that he remembered in the Destiny Islands. Getting a closer look, he realized that this room was _quite_ different. There were posters of random (male) celebrities that he didn't recognize, and very large pink fluffball serving as a pillow. There were a number of school books scattered on one corner of the floor, all of them (textbooks and binders) covered in doodles and stickers that advertised some university he'd never heard of. There was a pile of laundry sitting on the floor in another corner. There was a banging at the door, and a voice on the other side shouted in.

"Are you awake?" came the muffled question.

"Yes!" The person who Riku was watching through replied tiredly, waving her hand at the door.

"Hurry up then! The other girls are coming soon!" Another voice called back to her, still shouting through the door.

"Alright already!" With that, she stood up off the bed and dug through her drawers, pulling out clothes and making a mental note to herself to do her laundry later. She glanced at the clock: it was 9:30. She mumbled something to herself that Riku couldn't make out and she walked over to her mirror, grabbing a brush. Riku sat forward, about to finally see whose eyes he was looking through. When the girl finally made it to her mirror and started tugging her brush through her long, bed-head hair, Riku hit himself in the head, sure he was dreaming. When he tried every imaginable thing to make sure he wasn't just seeing things, he stared for a second longer.

"WHAT THE HELL!" He continued to stare in disbelief, unsure of what to think anymore. It would seem fate isn't as cruel as one may be led to believe.

……………

I know it's short, but if I do much more, I'll give away the sequel too much! That is, if you haven't already guess, which you may well have. Anyways, I want everyone to review so I can make sure you guys like where this is going!


	45. AN: url for 'Pandora's Secret'

Hey hey hey! My new fic is up and running! Hurrah! My apologies for the first chappie being short, but I can't help it! I'm kind of having a hard time getting it rolling. And, I'm stuck in summer school, so my brains fried, which is probably the reason for the semi-writers block. Here's all the info for it:

Title: Pandora's Secret  
Summary: Sequel to 'Everything to Lose'. Riku doesn't like what fate had in store for him and his friends. But he also doesn't know that he's inadvertently set in motion a chain of events that will unravel the very fabric of Destiny itself.

Anyhow, here's the url:

http/ read!


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